REUTERS
The official forex rate against the euro for Thursday is fixed at UAH 29.79 per euro.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on March 18 set the official forex rate for Thursday, March 19, at UAH 27.27 to the U.S. dollar, which let the country's national currency weaken by 21 kopiykas.
The hryvnia slumped after it had lost 54 kopiykas in value against U.S. dollar on Wednesday, according to the NBU website.
The official forex rate against the euro for Thursday is fixed at UAH 29.79 per euro – the hryvnia lost nine kopiykas in value since Wednesday.
The U.S. dollar strengthened against the hryvnia to UAH 28.50 in Kyiv's currency exchange booths, while euro – to UAH 31.50, on Wednesday, March 18.
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Trade on Ukraine's interbank forex market at 15:00 on March 18 closed at UAH 27.31/27.34 per U.S. dollar, whereas at UAH 29.86/29.88 per euro.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian companies and citizens bought US$2.1 billion in five business days in March, while about US$1.7 billion was bought out by businesses to pay for contracts and settle debts. Some US$300 million was bought by the population.
According to the NBU, the increased demand for foreign currency is caused by a psychological factor, namely the deterioration of market sentiment due to the global spread of coronavirus.
The NBU said it would impose no restrictions on Ukraine's forex market and would continue to mitigate excessive fluctuations through the sales of currency from reserves. Last week, the regulator spent US$981.6 million to support the hryvnia. Some US$538 million was spent over two days this week.
Ukraine's total international reserves stood at US$26.6 billion as of March 1, 2020, which was 5% up against the figure recorded at the beginning of the year.
The central bank in 2019 bought US$7.9 billion on the interbank forex market to replenish the country's international reserves.