National Bank of Ukraine eases conditions for foreign currency purchases

Starting March 25, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) will reduce the time needed for foreign currency purchases for importers to four days from six days, according to an NBU regulation approved on March 19. Lower volatility on the ForEx market was named as the main reason for the easing. The strict regulation on the ForEx market was introduced by the previous government on Feb. 7, as soon as the UAH/USD exchange rate broke the 9.0x threshold.

Alexander Paraschiy: The ForEx situation indeed looks more stable than a month ago. However, we can hardly celebrate the “easing” step since nothing changes in essence for importers. Delayed foreign currency purchases is still in place, requiring overly complicated financial planning and complicating importer operations. If nothing dramatic happens on the ForEx, we should anticipate more easing by the NBU on the market to allow importers, exporters and investors operate freely.