NBU: Situation with dollar whipped up artificially

The situation in Ukraine with the U.S. dollar exchange rate was whipped up artificially, chairman of the NBU's committee for the prevention of dishonest foreign exchange operations Yuriy Horshkov said in a statement posted on the central bank's web site.

"The main reason why the National Bank decided to establish the Committee for the prevention of dishonest foreign exchange operations and to intervene more actively in the foreign exchange market is that the panic created by unscrupulous market participants, who are called speculators, has already passed a certain limit, when it could be regulated by more soft methods. The situation with the dollar was whipped up artificially," Horshkov said.

According to him, there is a number of people that are eager to receive extra profits from this situation, that is why thay involved the whole population of the country in a currency pyramid.

He also accused the media of raising panic around the situation by publishing pessimistic forecasts related to exchange rate. Horshkov said the NBU is striving to make it possible to carry out all of currency operations at banks. The official also called on Ukrainians to use cards for payments abroad, as the NBU is actively considering the possibility of introducing restrictions on sums of cash payments.