You're reading: Ukrainians buy in December record amount of foreign currency in 2020

Ukrainians bought in December a record amount of foreign currency in 2020, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.

In December, Ukrainians bought foreign currencies worth $1.71 billion, followed by $1.44 billion in November, the second-highest number for the year.

These were the only two months in 2020 when Ukrainians bought more foreign currency than they sold.

According to the NBU, it shows that the population puts more trust in foreign currencies like euros and dollars than in Ukraine’s hryvnia, when deciding in which currency to keep their savings.

Overall, however, Ukrainians sold more foreign currency than they purchased in 2020 by $1.09 billion in equivalent: They bought $14.85 billion worth of foreign currency and sold $15.95 billion to banks and other financial institutions, including currency exchange bureaus.

In 2019, Ukrainians bought nearly the same amount of foreign currency in the U.S. dollar equivalent as in 2020: $14.7 billion.

In January 2020, $1 cost Hr 23.5, but in September the hryvnia devalued on the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis and $1 started to cost Hr 28. As of Jan. 10, $1 cost Hr 28.3.

Meanwhile, 1 euro costs Hr 34.6 and 1 pound costs Hr 38.4.

November and December are the only two months in 2020 when Ukrainians bought more foreign currency than they sold, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.