The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said Ukrainian labor migrants transferred about $12 billion to the country in 2019.
“The favorable situation in the forex market for most of 2019 was determined by good export performance, which was supported by a relatively good pricing environment in foreign markets; record agricultural productivity; moderate growth in goods imports, in particular due to low energy prices; and consistently high income from labor migrants (about $12 billion),” the NBU’s press service reported.
The volume of remittances significantly reduced foreign currencies’ rates in 2019. In particular, in December 2019 alone, the U.S. dollar weakened to UAH 23.2, and by five hryvnias from the beginning of 2019. At the same time, at the beginning of 2020, the dollar exchange rate started rebounding. The National Bank explains the hryvnia devaluation by foreign currency demand among importers and low volumes of foreign currency sales by exporters due to the receipt of VAT refunds.
Ukrainian labor migrants transferred $8.74 billion to Ukraine in the three quarters of 2019, including $2.82 billion from Poland. (UNIAN/Business World Magazine)