On 3 July 2013, the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN hosted a press conference on "How and what for do Ukrainians make savings: survey results". Mr. Valerii Prokhorenko, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, Mr. Serhii Mamedov, Executive Director of the Independent Association of Ukrainian Banks, and Mr. Gunnar Wälzholz, KfW's Country Director in Ukraine, participated in the press conference.

During a press conference, the survey results with regard to the issues in the sphere of finance that are of real concern to Ukrainian people were released. The survey was conducted by the research company GfK as part of the project aimed at increasing financial literacy among the Ukrainian population, which is being implemented by the Independent Association of Ukrainian Banks under the auspices of the National Bank of Ukraine.

Mr. Valerii Prokhorenko has noted that the National Bank of Ukraine highly appreciates and supports the initiatives put forward by all the parties interested in increasing the level of financial literacy among the Ukrainian population. He has also said that the results of educational projects seeking to raise the level of financial literacy among the Ukrainian population have already been made public: "Undoubtedly, financial literacy of the public fosters sustainable development of the sound financial system. Public confidence in hryvnia has grown immensely: deposits in the national currency have grown by 12.8 % year-to-date, whereas outstanding amounts of deposits in the foreign currency have declined by 1.3 % over the same period”.

According to Mr. Valerii Prokhorenko, the rapid development of cashless payments in Ukraine is another indication of the enhancement of the financial literacy of Ukrainians. "In 2012, cashless payments doubled in value, as compared with 2011 – by UAH 45 billion (97.5%), having reached UAH 91 billion. (12.4% of the total amount of payment card transactions), whereas the number of cashless payments had increased by 134 million (62.6%), amounting to 348 million transactions (32.4% of the total number of payment card transactions),” he noted.

"The Independent Association of Ukrainian Banks aims to increase financial literacy among the Ukrainian population. The survey results have shown that Ukrainians pay little attention to personal finance. For this reason, The Independent Association of Ukrainian Banks in cooperation with the National Bank of Ukraine has launched the project aimed at increasing financial literacy," said Mr. Serhii Mamedov.

Mr. Valerii Prokhorenko has also communicated that under the Action Plan for 2013 designed to increase the level of financial literacy among the Ukrainian population, the National Bank of Ukraine in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science has arranged summer courses in Financial Literacy at summer camps for children.

Summer courses that are designed for children and teenagers aged 9-16 will be conducted by the teachers who have participated in the pilot project "Financial Literacy"and volunteers from partner organizations.

For reference.

According to the survey results, 13.4% of Ukrainians acknowledge that they have limited knowledge about money and ways of making savings. The survey results have revealed low levels of awareness in all age groups regardless of education and occupation.

The survey results show that when it comes to financial issues, 37.7% of respondents entrust these issues to members of the own family, 20.7% of respondents turn to colleagues and friends for help; 7.4% of respondents entrust financial issues to the employees of financial institutions; 23.5% respondents make independent decisions and do not need advice; 18.8% of respondents do not trust anyone.

The survey results have revealed that Ukrainian women are thriftier than men. 16% of women and 13% of men make savings on a regular basis.

Overall, 15% of Ukrainians have a habit of setting aside a certain amount of money and 25% of Ukrainians do it from time to time whenever they have some money left.

30.6% of women and 22.5% of men are guided by the principle "I should think twice before spending even a small amount of money".

A financially literate person manages to control his or her income and spending. The survey results show that 9.2% of Ukrainian families keep records of their family budget, whereas 21% of those polled keep records of their income and spending but fail to put it down. Those who do not keep records of their income and spending but are aware of how much money they receive and spend monthly account for the largest portion of respondents – 39%. 30% of families do not keep any records of their finance.