Ukrainian currency slumps as 'panic' starts
The Ukrainian hryvnia slumped on Wednesday, with one banker predicting panic as residents scrambled to shelter their savings.
The hryvnia fell 5.3 percent to stand at 9.40 to the dollar at the end of morning trading, and also dropped by 5.3 percent at 12.70 to the euro, according to data from InterBusinessConsulting.
"We are in a kind of panic at the moment," Dmytro Sologoub, an economist at Raiffeisen Aval Bank, told AFP.
Ukraine has been rocked by violent protests since November after President Viktor Yanukovych rejected an association agreement with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Moscow.
"There is no political solution going forward so it's quite clear that the panic has started," said Sologoub as the central bank "has low reserves and is not supporting" the currency.
"People have started to shift to foreign currency," he said, with households buying dollars and euros.
Sologoub said there was even larger non-cash demand, a sign of possible capital flight.
"We cannot rule out that some politically-connected figures are shifting money out of the country."
Ukraine's economy is in tatters and the government is waiting for Russia to release in full the $15 billion (11 billion euros) Putin has promised Kiev in a critical bailout that has now been put on hold.
The opposition has called for Western aid, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who was visiting Kiev on Wednesday, has raised the possibility of financing in exchange for reforms.
