You're reading: National Bank of Ukraine expecting hryvnia to strengthen after getting funds from IMF

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) is expecting the hryvnia to strengthen after Ukraine obtains funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has no plans to intervene in support of its exchange rate, NBU Head Stepan Kubiv has written on his Facebook page.

“The strengthening of the national currency, as already emphasized,
will happen in the next two or three weeks after the start of the
program of cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF, when we receive
first funds from the IMF,” he said.

“We do not plan to perform interventions on the interbank market.
Forex reserves are sufficient under international standards, but they
are not enough to support the hryvnia,” the banker added.

However, according to him, the NBU started fighting against
speculators: 14 banks were disconnected from the system of confirmation
of transactions on the interbank currency market and some banks may lose
their licenses.

In general, the NBU head noted the hryvnia rate should correspond to
the level of inflation, which this year is expected to reach 12-14%, and
in 2015 to be not higher than 3-5%.