From Friday, March 25, in selected banking branches in Poland, it will be possible to exchange Ukrainian hryvnia in cash to Polish zloty as a result of an agreement signed by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the National Bank of Poland (NBP) on March 18, 2022.

Adult citizens of Ukraine will be able to exchange up to UAH 10,000 per person. Banks will accept banknotes from 100 to 1000 UAH for exchange. The exchange rate will be as close as possible to the official UAH / PLN rate.

“Many brave Ukrainians escaped from the Russian criminal aggression to Poland. Often, they only have hryvnia with them (taken in a hurry), which so far could not be exchanged to Polish zloty. From the first day of the war, the National Bank of Poland worked together with our friends from the National Bank of Ukraine to solve this problem. It is important that the heroic defenders of Ukraine know that we care for their families. I am very happy that this issue, important for refugees, has been settled” said the President of the National Bank of Poland, Prof. Adam Glapiński.

Narodowy Bank Polski will purchase hryvnia from Polish banks in cash received from Ukrainian citizens, and then exchange them in the NBU at the same rate. The National Bank of Ukraine will buy from the NBP up to 10 billion hryvnia in cash.

Kirylo Shevchenko, the president of the NBU said that “While fleeing the threats of war, many Ukrainian citizens had to go abroad, mainly to Poland. Many refugees had only hryvnia in cash with them and encountered difficulties with their exchange into Polish zlotys. He added that the agreement signed with the National Bank of Poland will solve this problem.

“Ukrainian citizens will be able to exchange hryvnia in cash in a Polish bank to meet their basic needs. We are grateful to our Polish colleagues for taking this step, which will strengthen the partnership between our nations”, emphasized Shevchenko.

Earlier, on March 21, taking into account the extraordinary circumstances related to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which may have a negative impact on the stability of the financial system in Poland, NBP provided the NBU with a US dollar / hryvnia swap line up to USD 1 billion. After talks with the Ukrainian side, the NBP decided to grant the Ukrainian side a swap not in PLN, but in USD.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński