The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommends that the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) raise interest rates on NBU certificates of deposit, which is to help ease pressure on the foreign exchange rate.

"Reducing the excess liquidity in the banking system is key to stem exchange rate pressures," IMF Mission Chief to Ukraine Ceyla Pazarbasioglu said in an interview with the IMF Survey online published on Wednesday. "Raising interest rates on NBU certificates of deposit-currently highly negative in real terms-would be an important step in this regard."

According to her, among other priorities in the monetary and forex policy in Ukraine is a further reduction in the gap between the official exchange rate and the interbank rate.

The NBU places certificates of deposit for a period of two and seven days at 0.8% and 5% per annum respectively.