Page 39 - UKRRptOct18

7.0 FX Source: CEIC
Exchange rate 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Official UAH/USD (eop) 7.7 7.99 7.96 7.99 7.99 7.99 15.77 23.41 26.20 27.52
Official UAH/USD (avg) 5.27 7.79 7.94 7.97 7.99 7.99 11.89 21.84 22.55 26.60
Ukrainians working abroad send home more than $5bn per quarter, double the central bank estimate , says Vladislav Kravets, chairman of RwSbank, a private bank. He writes on his bank’s web site: "According to the Asian Development Bank, about 80% of transfers are made through the physical transfer of money across borders by migrants, their friends, relatives or other persons for transfer to families of clients." Only 20% goes through banks or money transfer systems, he adds. Yakiv Smolii, governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, estimates Ukraine’s migrant workers will remit “more than $11bn” this year.
Ukraine's draft national budget for 2019 approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine provides for the hryvnia exchange rate against the US dollar at UAH29.4 by the end of 2019 .
"The calculations were made using the forecast rate at the end of the year, that is UAH29.4 per US dollar," reads an explanatory note to bill No. 9000 "On the national budget of Ukraine for 2019" registered in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on September 15.
The state budget of Ukraine for 2018 assumes the average annual hryvnia rate at the level of UAH29.3 to the dollar , while the rate at year-end is seen at UAH30.1 to the dollar.
Through July, Ukraine received $6.35bn in remittances from labour migrants, central bank governor Smoliy told reporters September 6. His figure is based on bank transfers and does not count money carried in cash.
Ukraine’s hryvnia devalued against the dollar by 5.7% in August, the National Bank of Ukraine reports. “To reduce the intensity of exchange rate fluctuations” the central bank sold in August $651mn more currency than it bought. Since the start of the year, the central bank has sold a net $549mn. In July, the hryvnia devalued 2.2% against the dollar. On Monday, the dollar weakened slightly, to 28.41 hryvnia for buyers.
39 UKRAINE Country Report October 2018 www.intellinews.com