The NBU expects an increase in demand for foreign currency, but not to the levels of last year
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The National Bank expects a moderate increase in household demand for foreign currency in the fall. First Deputy Governor of the NBU Sergiy Nikolaychuk said this in a interview to Interfax-Ukraine.

"We expect the demand for foreign currency to grow, but not to the levels of last year. In our opinion, last year it was largely pent-up demand due to the fact that the population was not able to freely buy foreign currency in previous years due to currency restrictions," he explained.

According to Mr. Nikolaychuk, the decline in demand in the retail segment is also the result of the NBU's policy aimed at ensuring the attractiveness of hryvnia assets and the relative stability of the foreign exchange market.

"In addition, the demand for foreign currency was probably to some extent busy last year. And in recent months, this saturation has been matched by the public's understanding that by placing funds in national currency instruments, one can be guaranteed to receive a fairly good income, rather than risk losing it by keeping dollars or euros under the mattress," said the NBU First Deputy Governor.

Nikolaychuk saw no signs that demand in the summer of 2025 had begun to return to previous levels. Thus, in June and July compared to May net household demand for foreign currency increased from $250 million to $270-280 million.

"This is a change within the statistical margin of error compared to the net demand last year or at the beginning of this year. For example, in the same period last year, the population's demand for foreign currency reached $1 billion per month. That is, these are indicators of a completely different order," the banker said.

According to the NBU's latest data, in August this year, net household demand for foreign currency increased to about $356 million, while in August 2024 it was $777 million.