KYIV, May 29 – Starting from the second half of June, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) plans to carry out interest rate swap operations on the interbank market in order to minimize interest risk for banks, the central bank said Friday.

"We have introduced long-term refinancing of banks for a period of up to five years so that they are not afraid to take funds from the NBU and send them to the economy. Now, we are preparing to launch an interest-rate swap, which will reduce the interest risks of banks and give them courage to expand lending," the press service said, citing deputy Governor of the National Bank of Oleh Churiy.