The National Bank of Ukraine, as announced, is introducing new approaches to determining the list of currencies for which the official exchange rate is set daily and is canceling the list of currencies for which the official exchange rate is set monthly. The changes take effect on 31 March 2025.
The need to update the approaches is due to a significant increase in the level of automation of calculations, which has reduced operational constraints and risks of daily calculation of the official exchange rate for a wide range of currencies. In view of this, the use of two lists of currencies (daily and monthly) to calculate the official hryvnia exchange rate has lost its relevance, and the NBU decided to switch to one daily list of currencies, which is in line with international experience.
The list of currencies for which the official exchange rate of the hryvnia will be set will include foreign currencies of the first group of the Foreign Currencies and Banking Metals Classifier and foreign currencies issued by countries that accounted for at least 95% of trade turnover with Ukraine according to the previous year’s balance of payments. This list will be adjusted once every three years based on the latest statistics on trade turnover. At the same time, it will be possible to adjust the list more frequently if the trade turnover with Ukraine falls below 90% for the currencies included in the list, or if changes are made to the first group of the Foreign Currencies and Banking Metals Classifier.
Taking into account the approved updates, effective 31 March 2025:
- The frequency of setting the official hryvnia exchange rate against 11 currencies will be changed from monthly to daily. These currencies are the Algerian dinar, baht, UAE dirham, dong, lari, Lebanese pound, Malaysian ringgit, Saudi riyal, Serbian dinar, taka, and Tunisian dinar.
- The official hryvnia exchange rate will not be calculated against the following currencies: russian ruble, belarusian ruble, Brazilian real, Armenian dram, Dominican peso, Iraqi dinar, Iranian riyal, Libyan dinar, Moroccan dirham, New Taiwan dollar, Pakistan rupee, som, somoni, Turkmenistan new manat, and Uzbekistan sum.
Therefore, the list of foreign currencies for setting the official hryvnia exchange rate on a daily basis will include 41 currencies and SDRs (special drawing rights).
Respective amendments were approved by NBU Board Resolution No. 36 On Approval of Amendments to the Regulation On Setting the Official Hryvnia Exchange Rate against Foreign Currencies and Calculating the Reference Hryvnia Exchange Rate against the U.S. Dollar and Accounting Prices for Investment Metals dated 24 March 2025, which comes into force on 31 March 2025.
Adopting new approaches to determining the list of currencies for which the NBU sets the official hryvnia exchange rate on a daily basis was preceded by a public discussion.
At stage one, the draft was endorsed at the meeting of the Money and Foreign Exchange Markets Contact Group (the "Contact Group") on 26 September 2024. No comments or proposals regarding the draft were made during the meeting, and the Contact Group supported the approaches submitted for consideration.
At stage two, which started on 15 October 2024, the NBU posted on its official website the draft of new approaches to the calculation and publication of FX-market indicators, for a public discussion, and encouraged all stakeholders to send in comments and suggestions by 15 November 2024. No comments or suggestions had been received from stakeholders by the specified deadline.