“Everyone is trying to buy some foreign currency with their salary instead of opening a hryvnia deposit”: Ukrainians are losing interest in hryvnia deposits

Against the backdrop of the national currency’s devaluation and low rates, Ukrainian depositors sharply lost interest in hryvnia deposits at the start of the year.

Ukraine’s National Bank published its January 2026 report, which shows that last month business savings in hryvnias fell by 5.5% (to 1.26 trillion UAH), while household savings almost did not grow (holding at 940 billion UAH)—unlike previous months, when they had been increasing by 1.5–2%, and by 18.4% over all of 2025.

At the same time, individuals increased their foreign-currency bank deposits in January 2026 by 1.2% (to $10.9 billion).

Bankers interviewed by the outlet “Strana” explained this by several factors:

1. Hryvnia devaluation. The official dollar exchange rate has risen by almost one hryvnia from December 31, 2025 to today—from 42.3878 UAH/$ to 43.2920 UAH/$ (up 2.1%).
2. Lower hryvnia deposit rates. Since the start of February, average returns on retail deposits have dropped by 0.07–0.09 percentage points, reaching 13.41% per year for 3-month deposits and 13.74% per year for 12-month deposits. These figures are before taxes; after taxes, the depositor would keep only about 10.3–10.6% per year.
3. High real inflation. It is estimated at 25–30%, which is far above the official headline inflation rate that the State Statistics Service reported in January 2026 at 7.4% year-on-year.

“Officials draw an unrealistic inflation number for reports, while people live in real life. That’s why they understand prices aren’t rising by 7.4% but by more. So it’s more profitable for them to invest not even in bank deposits, but in goods—right now the best thing is to buy various energy-related equipment in advance for future resale, where you can earn at least 30%. Banks won’t offer that. Or to stay in dollars/euros, because foreign-currency deposits at least won’t lose value, unlike hryvnia deposits, with which you can buy less and less in stores. The hryvnia mostly remains not in deposits, but in card accounts (dominated by salary cards): around 67–68% of household funds are on cards, where money can be withdrawn at any time, and only about a third is in classic term deposits. This indicates low trust not only in banks but also in the hryvnia, and also the need for quick access to savings,” said the treasury director of a large bank.

At the same time, financiers do not expect a quick improvement or an inflow of savings into hryvnia deposits—at least until the hryvnia’s exchange rate against the dollar and euro is stabilized for a prolonged period and deposit rates are закреплены.

“Retail deposit rates may continue to slip and lose another 0.3–0.4 percentage points in response to the National Bank’s recent cut of the key policy rate from 15.5% to 15% per year. This is a normal market reaction, and depositors will respond just as poorly. And they really dislike the rising dollar and euro rates—against that backdrop, almost everyone tries to buy some foreign currency from their salary just in case, rather than open a hryvnia deposit,” said a deputy chair of a bank with foreign capital.

Earlier, the National Bank cut its key rate while worsening its forecast for economic growth.