During the interbank trading session, the USD/UAH pair dropped to the level of 8.625 hryvnias, Ukraine’s Finance Ministry said on its official website on January 27.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, the hryvnia hit the historical low. On January 24, the pair was trading at 8.5 hryvnias. From October 2013 to late January 2014, the Ukrainian currency lost against the greenback 3.61%. So, the economic crisis is developing amid the political havoc. Since autumn 2013, the country has been witnessing the demonstrations organized by the opponents of the current president and supporters of the European integration. The confrontation between the opposition and the authorities has got serious on January 19, when the Rada approved a range of strict repressive laws. That inflicted a new round of unrest all over Ukraine. The protests made the leading politicians, including the country’s vice premier, cancel their visits to the World’s Economic Forum in Davos.
The reduction of Ukraine’s foreign-exchange reserves provokes some troubles such as the decline of the hryvnia rate. On January 27, the Ukrainian stock market lost 1.96%. In the second half of December, the Russian president granted Kiev a loan totaling $15 billion. Besides, Vladimir Putin decided to lower prices of gas Russia supplies Ukraine with. However, these measures have not helped the country’s economy yet.
The hryvnia is not the only one currency that has been falling against the U.S. dollar. In early January, the Russian ruble, Brazilian real, and South African rand also went down versus the greenback.
