Ukrainians in January 2016 sold $114.8 million more foreign currency than bought, worsening the figure for December by 71.9 percent, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
According to its data, in January the population reduced forex purchases compared to the previous month by 33.8 percent, to $39.5 million, sales by 14.5 percent, to $154.2 million.
The National Bank specified that 17.5 percent less U.S. dollars, or $71.5 million, were sold, while 12.8 percent less dollars, or $30 million, were bought.
As reported, in general, over the past year Ukrainians sold $1.55 billion more foreign currency to banks than bought, while in the previous year the volume of forex purchases $2.41 billion exceeded its sales: a total of $5.61 billion was sold and $8.02 billion was bought.
Market participants say that a sharp decline in the volume of transactions in official currency exchange points is due to the revival of the “black” market, in particular because of currency restrictions introduced by National Bank.
