Hryvnia to dollar rate may surprise many by weekend – outlook

This week's payment of monthly taxes and a narrower withdrawal of non-residents from government bonds is expected to support the hryvnia, while its exchange rate may continue to gradually move toward UAH 27.5 to the U.S. dollar.

That's according to a weekly financial report by ICU asset management group, seen by UNIAN.

"Lower demand for currency on the part of non-residents, the need for hryvnia liquidity to pay monthly taxes and other expenses in anticipation of a rather long period of holidays and days-off will create additional support for the hryvnia. Therefore, we expect that the hryvnia exchange rate this week will continue to gradually strengthen and move in the direction of UAH 27.5 to the U.S. dollar," the report says.

The foreign exchange market, analysts add, has been retaining balance independently for the third consecutive week, without foreign exchange interventions by the National Bank of Ukraine, which allows moderate fluctuations in the hryvnia rate.

Read alsoFinance Ministry borrows almost UAH 4.6 bln on domestic market"The positive news on the situation in the east of the country since Thursday has changed the sentiment on the markets for the better. On world markets, yields on Ukrainian eurobonds declined, while on the domestic market, non-residents slowed down their withdrawal from government domestic loan bonds. This reduced the demand for foreign currency, and by the end of the week the hryvnia strengthened by 0.3%, to UAH 27.92 to the dollar," reads the report.

Background

The National Bank on Tuesday, April 27, set the hryvnia's official exchange rate to the U.S. dollar at UAH 27.86, that is, the national currency strengthened by 4 kopiykas compared to the previous figures.

ICU Group

ICU Group is an independent financial group providing brokerage, asset management, and private equity services. The group specializes Central and Eastern European markets, managing over $500 million worth of assets.