On 15 November, Ms. Olena Scherbakova, Director of General Economic Department, held a press conference regarding the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine with regard to the Expansion of Instruments to Exert Influence on the Money Market” signed by the President of Ukraine and adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 6 November 2012.

Pursuant to this Law, the National Bank of Ukraine shall be legally entitled to impose for a period of up to 6 months a requirement on the economic entities engaged in foreign economic activity to sell a portion of their foreign exchange earnings. Furthermore, the National Bank of Ukraine shall have the right to change the terms of the settlement under export and import transactions.

The right to impose a mandatory requirement to sell foreign exchange and establish the terms of the settlement under foreign trade transactions would expand the instruments available to the regulator and help prevent imbalances in the foreign exchange market,” noted Ms. Olena Scherbakova, Director of General Economic Department. According to her, the outstanding balance of Ukrainian banks' funds held on overseas correspondent accounts has reached USD 8.5 billion and unfortunately these funds work for the benefit of other countries’ economy.