Refugees spend $1 billion a month with Ukrainian cards
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Ukrainian refugees abroad used $3.48 billion from Ukrainian bank cards in the first quarter of 2023, which is 5% or $0.18 billion less than in the fourth quarter of 2022. Interfax-Ukraine writes about this with reference to NBU data.
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According to the National Bank, withdrawals from bank cards abroad decreased by 7.4% to $1.68 billion, while spending in the retail network decreased by 2.7% to $1.78 billion.
At the same time, transfers to cards and operations at ATMs and PTKS from Ukrainian cards abroad remained at a low level — $0.02 billion.
In general, cash volumes outside banks increased to $3.2 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
In the updated Inflation Report, the National Bank indicates that the expenses of refugees cause a stable outflow of currency under the category “travel”, including due to the withdrawal of cash from cards abroad.
“Due to the significant number of migrants abroad, the outflow of foreign currency under the articles “travel” and “cash outside banks” will remain significant. However, as early as 2024, the return of migrants will become one of the determining factors in the reduction of currency outflow due to the decrease in the import of travel services, as well as the slowdown in the growth of cash volumes outside banks,” the NBU expects.
Referring to UN estimates, the National Bank notes that in the first quarter of 2023, the number of migrants outside Ukraine continued to increase: 0.6 million more Ukrainians left than returned. The total number of Ukrainians remaining in Europe at the end of the quarter amounted to 8.6 million people, of which 5 million have the status of temporary protection in the EU.
The National Bank of Ukraine predicts a net population inflow to Ukraine of 0.1 million by the end of 2023, and by 0.6 million in the next year.
According to his data, the maximum spending on cards of Ukrainian banks abroad was recorded in the second quarter of last year — $4.88 billion, after which they stabilized at the level of about $3.5-3.7 billion per quarter.
In the “pre-war” first quarter of 2019, they amounted to $0.54 billion, in the fourth quarter of pre-war 2021 – $0.75 billion.
Source: Ministry of Finance
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