The foreign exchange market is under pressure: the NBU sells more than $1 billion for the fifth week in a row

The NBU continues to actively sell currency from reserves, maintaining the stability of the hryvnia

The National Bank of Ukraine continues to actively support the currency market: for the fifth week in a row, the volume of currency sales by the regulator exceeds $1 billion. During the last reporting week, the NBU sold more than a billion dollars on the interbank market, and the total volume of currency interventions since the beginning of the year is approaching $29 billion.

This is reported by the statistics of currency interventions of the NBU and financial analyst Andrii Shevchyshyn.

NBU sold more than $1 billion in a week

During August 3-7 The National Bank sold on the interbank foreign exchange market $1.02 billion. Thus, the regulator continues the period of extremely high presence in the foreign exchange market — for the fifth week in a row, the volume of sales has remained close to or above the $1 billion mark.

Since the beginning of 2026, the NBU has already implemented it on the interbank almost $29 billion of currency. For comparison, for the entire year 2025, the regulator sold $36.1 billion.

That is, for less than eight months of the current year, the volume of foreign exchange interventions is already about 80% of last year's figure.

Why does the National Bank spend so much currency

Large volumes of sales indicate high demand for foreign currency, which cannot be fully satisfied at the expense of the market offer.

In such a situation, the NBU goes to the interbank market with reserves, selling dollars and other currencies. The main task is balance supply and demand and prevent sharp fluctuations in the hryvnia exchange rate.

The situation became especially tense in the summer. In June-August, the weekly volume of currency sales exceeded $1 billion several times. In mid-June, the NBU sold almost $1.4 billion per week, at the end of the month — more than $1.3 billion.

In July and early August, the volume of interventions also repeatedly exceeded a billion dollars.

What happens to the demand for currency

Several factors affect the foreign exchange market at the same time. Among them are significant budget expenditures, business and state import needs, population demand for foreign currency and insufficient supply of currency from exporters.

External financial aid also plays an important role in wartime conditions. International receipts make it possible to replenish Ukraine's international reserves, after which the NBU can use them for currency interventions.

Therefore, the very fact of selling more than $1 billion per week does not automatically mean the beginning of a currency crisis. The regulator uses international reserves for this very purpose — to compensate for a temporary shortage of currency on the market.

NBU sometimes buys currency

Despite the predominance of sales, the National Bank in some periods also entered the market with small volumes of currency purchases.

In July and August, such operations amounted to approx $0.2–0.8 million for separate weeks. Against the background of sales in the billions, these amounts practically do not affect the overall picture.

At the same time, they show that the regulator is trying to respond to exchange rate fluctuations in both directions, and not just to restrain the weakening of the hryvnia.

Is this a threat to the hryvnia?

The current situation shows, first of all, that the balance of demand and supply in the foreign exchange market remains tense.

The NBU has the ability to compensate for the currency deficit at the expense of international reserves, however, long-term preservation of high volumes of interventions means a significant burden on them.

At the same time, the stability of the foreign exchange market largely depends on further international incomes, the situation with exports and imports, and the behavior of the population and businesses.

Therefore, weekly NBU sales of billions are not a signal of the imminent collapse of the hryvnia, but a clear indicator that the foreign exchange market currently needs the active support of the regulator.