The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) sold $200 million in the interbank market on March 19 to smoothen out excessive exchange rate fluctuations, the central bank wrote on its Facebook page.
“We still do not set the exchange rate. There is a flexible exchange rate in the country. However, our goal is to avoid sharp exchange rate fluctuations. The hryvnia is weakening primarily due to panic factor,” reads the statement.
The National Bank stresses that demand for currency is higher than supply. The reason is deteriorating moods of market participants (Ukrainian companies and the public) over the coronavirus outbreak.
At the same time, the NBU assures that the central bank has enough reserves to smoothen out sharp exchange rate fluctuations. (Ukrinform/Business World Magazine)
