Is it worth waiting for a decrease in the yield of hryvnia deposits?
Despite inflationary risks, the National Bank plans to continue supporting the attractiveness of the hryvnia to ensure that citizens’ deposits are protected from devaluation.
In a comment to RBC-Ukraine, Deputy Head of the National Bank Volodymyr Lepushynskyi explained how the regulator’s decisions and the demand from Ukrainians for government bonds will affect the yield of savings.
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According to Lepushynskyi, the situation currently looks as follows:
Deposits remain stable: A significant decrease in interest rates on hryvnia deposits is not expected for now. Banks continue to compete for depositors, and the NBU’s discount rate remains unchanged.
OVGZ records: The demand for government bonds is rapidly growing – in February alone, household investments increased by a record 10 billion hryvnias. Due to the high popularity of this instrument, the yield on OVGZ has noticeably decreased in recent months.
Attractiveness of the hryvnia: Since the beginning of the year, the volume of term deposits in hryvnia has grown by 13.4 billion hryvnias (by 4%). The main task of the NBU is to maintain such a level of rates that covers inflation. Updated price forecasts will be announced by the regulator in April.
Situation with loans: Currently, loan rates are at “pre-COVID” levels. Further reductions are only possible when inflationary risks decrease and banks begin to compete more actively for reliable borrowers.
Comparison figures: The portfolio of hryvnia OVGZ among the population has increased by 23% since the beginning of the year, and by 6.5 times since the introduction of martial law.
Read also:
- Prices may rise faster: the NBU warned of a change in the inflation trajectory
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