Refugees from Ukraine can exchange their Ukrainian banknotes for euros free of charge only until November 18. This is pointed out by the Deutsche Bundesbank. The exchange program has been running since May 24 and is based on an agreement between the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Deutsche Bundesbank and the National Bank of Ukraine.
It allows all adult refugees from Ukraine to exchange up to 10,000 hryvnia (around 275 euros) per person into the local currency at participating banks and savings banks. The prerequisite is that they have an account with the bank in question. Banknotes of 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 hryvnia of the current banknote series of the National Bank of Ukraine will be exchanged. The exchange rate at which the Bundesbank buys hryvnia from credit institutions and later uses them as a basis for repatriation to the National Bank of Ukraine is announced on the Bundesbank’s website every Friday at 2 pm.
To ensure that the individual exchange amount is not exceeded, banks record who wants to exchange money. The identity is verified on the basis of documents that are also accepted as documents for opening a basic account by refugees from the Ukrainian war zone, the Bundesbank informs. Any losses resulting from the exchange will be borne by the federal budget.
Because the refugees from Ukraine could not exchange their money into euros at the beginning of the war, the EU Commission had initiated this regulation. The national currency, the hryvnia, had previously proved worthless in the EU because banks and exchange offices refused to exchange it for euros or dollars. That changed with the exchange program.
However, Ukrainians can withdraw and transfer money at ATMs using Visa or Mastercard.
tun22103101
Die ukrainische Währung Hrywnja. Foto: tünews INTERNATIONAL / Yana Rudenko.
001736
