With the hryvnia flirting with strengthening above 27 to the dollar, the central bank intervened last week, buying $375 million in foreign exchange.
This was almost 10 times the amount bought by the National Bank of Ukraine in the first week of June. On the supply side, high commodity prices – notably iron and grain – are flooding Ukraine with dollars. On the demand side, Covid controls are preventing many Ukrainians from expensive EU vacations this summer, forcing travelers to settle for cheaper package tours to Egypt and Turkey.