Mandatory conversion of currency transfers and a ban on withdrawing currency from ATMs hit families of migrant workers
Moscow - Kyiv, September 3 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - The order of the National Bank of Ukraine that residents of the country will not be able to receive currency transfers from abroad and withdraw currency from ATMs has hit the families of “employees”, depriving them of the opportunity to make savings , writes RG.
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In total, according to various sources, from 1,5 to 3 million Ukrainian citizens work abroad, the newspaper recalls. And according to unofficial statistics (there are no official statistics at all), just the year before last this labor army transferred about 4 billion dollars through payment systems, and they transported about the same amount across the border on their own.
This $8 billion is perhaps the only source of foreign currency for Ukraine, since since 2008 Ukraine’s foreign trade balance has been negative: more foreign currency is being withdrawn from the country than it receives, the author of the publication notes.
“Thus, the NBU simply took away the currency from Ukrainians, depriving them of the opportunity to create savings that did not depend on fluctuations of the hryvnia,” RG sums up.
However, the publication reminds, Ukrainians are becoming poorer not only because of currency fluctuations. Thus, the government, at the request of the IMF, froze this year the indexation of minimum pensions and salaries, which amount to 1218 and 949 hryvnia. Which, together with the increase in utility tariffs - in different cases from 30% to 200%, puts not only the low-income population, but also people who were once considered the middle class on the brink of survival.
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