NBU Clarifies Some FX Restrictions

The NBU is optimizing certain foreign exchange restrictions to prevent unproductive capital outflows to protect international reserves of Ukraine and maintain FX market stability.
As of 21 February 2024, certain amendments came into effect.
First, conditions for businesses to purchase foreign currency.

Today, in order to make FX settlements, a business must first use foreign currency it has at its disposal.
After using its own FX funds, the business can buy foreign currency from the FX market of Ukraine.
Also, companies can execute FX swap transactions to purchase and sell foreign currency, if the first part of the transaction involves purchasing foreign currency by a bank from a client.
To ensure that such transactions are not used to circumvent the current FX restrictions, the NBU clarifies the conditions for companies for purchasing foreign currency.
As of 21 February, for purchasing foreign currency, banks will take into account not only FX funds on current accounts and deposits of clients, but also information on unfinished FX swap transactions of clients with banks, where the first leg of the transaction (selling foreign currency) was completed.
To this end, on the date of FX purchase, legal persons have to provide the bank with information on the foreign currency they sold in the first leg of the FX swap transaction (currency, term of transaction) as part of unfinished deals with banks.
This information will be provided additionally to the information on available FX funds on current and deposit accounts.
Second, the NBU clarified the specifics of currency supervision performed by banks regarding deadlines for settlements in export transactions.
At present, the effective provision prescribes that banks can complete currency supervision of the residents’ compliance with settlement deadlines on export transactions after crediting the funds received from a nonresident for goods to the current account of the resident with the bank, if the funds were transferred from abroad.
To stimulate the return of foreign currency earnings from export of goods to Ukraine, the NBU clarified the specifics of currency supervision performed by banks.
As of 21 February, banks can complete currency supervision of the relevant transactions only if the funds from a nonresident were received in foreign currency.
Instead, transfers in hryvnia will not be grounds to discontinue currency supervision performed by banks.
These and other amendments were approved by NBU Board Resolution No. 24 On Amendments to NBU Board Resolution No. 18 dated 24 February 2022 dated 20 February 2024, which comes into effect on 21 February 2024.