YEREVAN, March 3. / ARKA /. Ukraine’s Central Bank jacked up its refinancing rate to 30 per cent as part of a package of measures aimed at stabilizing the country’s financial system.
The rate rise, which will take effect Wednesday, was announced Tuesday by central bank chief Valeria Gontareva. The rate currently stands at 19.5 per cent.
Ukraine’s hryvnia has rapidly lost value in recent weeks amid the conflict in the country’s east that is draining reserves and scaring off investors. After soaring to over 30 to the US dollar last week, the hryvnia has recovered in recent days, and was trading below 25 on Tuesday, according to central bank data.
Ukraine’s parliament on Monday passed several laws, including amendments to the budget, a condition for a $US17.5 billion ($A33.6bn) lending program from the International Monetary Fund. The IMF’s board is set to decide on the program on March 11.
Ms Gontareva said a raft of technical measures had been taken with the help of IMF experts and aimed at stabilizing the banking system.-0-
