KIEV, Jan. 16 – The Ukrainian population in 2011 bought $13.445 billion more hard currency than it sold to banks, which was 38.2% up on 2010 ($9.732 billion), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.

According to the NBU, the average monthly amount of net forex purchases in cash by Ukrainians in 2011 was $1.12 billion.

The NBU said that over the year individuals bought foreign currency worth $31.693 billion from banks and sold them $18.249 billion. Forex purchases in December 2011 alone amounted to $2.116 billion and forex sales stood at $1.375 billion. Forex purchases from banks in December 2011 fell by 14.1% from November 2011, while sales grew by 25.8%.