Ukrainians increase currency sale by 44.6% in 2016, purchase by 9.2%
Ukrainians bought $747.1 million from banks in 2016 and this is 9.2% more than in 2015 ($684.1 million), the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said on its website.
Sale of foreign currency by the public last year grew by 44.6%, from $2.232 billion to $3.227 billion.
The NBU said that Ukrainians sold $2.48 billion more in 2016 than they bought, boosting the balance by 60.2% compared to 2015.
The NBU said that in December 2016 Ukrainians bought $96.4 million and sold $134.3 million, while in November 2016 it was $65.1 million and $137.7 million respectively, and in December 2015 - $59.6 million and $180.3 million respectively.
The central bank said that the share of U.S. dollars of total currency purchase was 74% and sale – 65%, including 79% and 66% in December respectively.
As reported, in 2015 Ukrainians sold $1.55 billion more foreign currency than they bought.