Loans in Ukraine grew by 1.4% in February, deposits by 0.4% — National Bank

In February, the total volume of loans increased by 1.4% (UAH 15.9 billion) and amounted to UAH 1.121 trillion, while deposits increased by 0.4% (UAH 9.9 billion) to UAH 2.734 trillion, according to information posted on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

The main factor in the growth of lending was the corporate sector, the volume of which increased by 1.8% (UAH 14.3 billion) to UAH 827 billion.

Loans in hryvnia to legal entities increased by 2.7% (UAH 15.3 billion) and amounted to UAH 585.6 billion.

Corporate loans in foreign currency increased by only 0.3% ($0.02 billion) to $5.83 billion, although their value in national currency decreased slightly due to the strengthening of the hryvnia.

At the same time, lending to the population increased by 0.8% (UAH 2.3 billion) and amounted to UAH 282.0 billion.

As for deposits, household deposits increased by 1.4% (UAH 16.6 billion) to UAH 1.229 trillion, hryvnia deposits increased by 2.3% (UAH 18.2 billion) to UAH 810.8 billion, and foreign currency deposits increased by only 0.4% (USD 0.04 billion) to USD 10.08 billion.

Legal entities' deposits decreased by 0.1% (by UAH 2.2 billion) to UAH 1.456 trillion, mainly due to a decrease in foreign currency assets by 5.4% (by USD 0.55 billion) to USD 9.70 billion, while hryvnia deposits of legal entities increased by 2.3% (by UAH 23.8 billion) to UAH 1.053 trillion.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, Danil Getmantsev, explained these trends by the conversion of companies’ foreign currency deposits.

“The main reason is the persistent structural liquidity surplus in the banking system, which is largely due to a significant budget deficit, a significant part of which is covered by international aid. These funds are withdrawn from government currency accounts and circulate in the banking system. As a result, after the seasonal decline in January, the inflow of hryvnia deposits has expectedly increased,” he explained in his Telegram channel.