NBU's acting head says no grounds for applying currency restrictions

Acting head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Yakiv Smolii, says the regulator sees no grounds for applying hard currency restrictions alike those introduced in 2015 when hryvnia's reached its historic low of UAH 30.01 to the U.S. dollar.

"We see no grounds today for applying such drastic currency restrictions as those introduced by the National Bank in 2015. The foreign exchange market is more or less stable. Volatility is not critical. For the third consecutive year, we are aware of how exporters and importers react. And we can even talk about seasonal fluctuations, which we ascertain following three years of operations on the forex market," Smolii told a briefing following the meeting of the monetary committee on January 25.

According to the official, forex liberalization is an important factor for external investors.

Read alsoUkraine's central bank expects $2 bln from IMF in 2018"We plan to make a decision this year to pay off dividends for 2017. We have already submitted requests to commercial banks and received relevant information from companies that plan to pay dividends this year. After the analysis, we will decide in what terms and amounts this will be done," he said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the regulator announced further easing of administrative restrictions on the currency market, established in 2014-2015 to stabilize the exchange rate of the national currency, with the proviso that full currency liberalization is possible after the entry into force of a new law on currency and the introduction of effective tax legislation in Ukraine.

Read alsoNBU assures no threat to hryvniaToday, a number of NBU restrictions are still being applied to citizens and businesses, including the compulsory sale of 50% of currency proceeds, the advance transfer of hryvnias to buy foreign currency at the request of customers, and limitation on the purchase of cash currency by individuals in the equivalent of UAH 150,000, or $5,217 at the current forex rate, per day.