On September 16, it is 17 years since the completion of monetary reform and introduction of the national currency of Ukraine - hryvnia - that became the single legal tender in the territory of our country.

Following the Presidential Decree on Monetary Reform in Ukraine of August 25, 1996, the reform was conducted in our country on September 2-16, 1996. On the first day of the reform all prices, tariffs, salaries, scholarships, pensions, money in the accounts of firms, institutions and organizations, as well as deposits of individuals were converted to hryvnia at the fixed exchange rate.

The monetary reform was an important event for Ukraine, as it led to creation of one of the integral attributes of statehood – the national currency. International analysts welcomed the monetary reform and introduction of Ukrainian currency - hryvnia - as the evidence that Ukrainian economy started stabilization.

For 17 years already hryvnia has been circulating in Ukraine in cash and non-cash forms.

As of September 1, 2013 there were UAH 248.1 bln in coins and banknotes in circulation (cash in banks and cash outside banks), which is by UAH 25.3 bln more than at the beginning of the year. Growth of cash in circulation is a common trend for Ukraine and other countries of the world. However, the cash growth in Ukraine has slowed down, in particular the share of cash outside the banks in total money supply decreased significantly (from 43.1% in 1996 to 26.3% on September 1, 2013), which is an evidence of cashless payments increase.

“At the same time cash is required for retail payments and the growing demand is fully satisfied. The cash demand is growing, first of all, due to appreciable loss of the population interest in foreign currency and secondly because of increasing population income, as more than 80% of cash is withdrawn from the banks due to payment of salaries, pensions, other social benefits and interests on deposits (during the first half of the year the real wage increased by 9.6%, average pensions - by 4.2%)” - said Viktor Nesterenko, Director of the General Department for Regulation of Cash Circulation of the National Bank of Ukraine.