Foreign currency purchases by Ukrainian population hit record since Nov 2012 in Oct

MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) - The volume of foreign currency purchases by the Ukrainian population exceeded the sales by $1.39 billion in October 2024, compared to $1.09 billion in September and $0.78 billion in August, which is a record since November 2012, Ukrainian media said, citing the Ukrainian National Bank.

According to the media, that happened mainly due to an increase in the purchase of foreign currency cash by $319 million compared to September to $2,585.4 million, while sales grew only $42.2 million to $1,312.6 million.

The purchase of non-cash currency increased by $26.3 million in October compared to the previous month to $420.2 million, while sales rose by $5.6 million to $299.3 million.

The net purchase of foreign currency by the population reached $9.63 billion over the first ten months of this year, compared to $3.14 billion in the respective period of 2023, including $8.67 billion worth of cash currency against $2.18 billion.

In the legal entities market, the purchase of foreign currency by bank clients increased to $6.77 billion in October from $6.13 billion in September, thus hitting a record since December 2023. At the same time, the increase in sales was more significant to $5.38 billion from $4.59 billion in September.

As for the volume of transactions between banks, it grew for the second month in a row to $6.21 billion compared to $5.79 billion in September. This is the highest figure during the crisis, versus $12.1 billion before the crisis began in February 2022.

As reported, the net sale of foreign currency by the National Bank on the interbank market amounted to $3.43 billion in October this year, thus setting this year's record.

According to preliminary estimates of the National Bank, Ukraine's international reserves decreased by 6%, or $2.32 billion, to $36.58 billion in October, while net international reserves decreased by $3.11 billion, or 12.2%, to $22.44 billion.