National Bank of Ukraine sells our $65 m on interbank market

National Bank of Ukraine sold $65 million on the interbank forex market on January 20 at UAH 7.90 per U.S. dollar, whereas sales on January 19 amounted to about $111 million at the rate of UAH 7.98 per U.S. dollar, an NBU official said. The NBU is helping the market return to a market rate of less than UAH 8 per U.S. dollar," said Valeriy Lytvytsky, the head of the group of advisors to the NBU's governor. Today, the NBU sold $65 million: the average weighted rate on transactions with the U.S. dollar is expected at a level no more than UAH 7.95 per U.S. dollar.

He said the average weighted forex rate on all operations with the U.S. dollar on the interbank market on January 20 was UAH 7.93 per U.S. dollar, and the overall amount of trade in dollars on Tuesday was $241 million, whereas on Monday it was $205 million. He also noted that the NBU had not used yet International Monetary Fund assets to make forex interventions aimed at propping up the hryvnia. I believe that the current talks with an IMF mission (the arrival of the IMF mission to Kyiv was put off from January 20 until January 21 for technical reasons) will be a success. The central bank feels confident, as our forex reserves are in a good state. He stressed the need for an immediate review of the 2009 budget, as it "cannot stand any criticism of the macroeconomic indicators.