The National Bank of Ukraine's official exchange rate for the hryvnia fell to a record low on Monday / Photo by UNIAN

Quotes for the hryvnia against the dollar on the interbank market at the the close of trading on Monday reached UAH 15.40/15.90 to the dollar, online financial Web site UkrDealing reported. 

According to the site, quotes for the hryvnia against the euro were UAH 19.2068/19.8304, while against the Russian ruble the hryvnia was at UAH 0.3394/0.3508.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine on Monday  1400 set the official exchange rate of the hryvnia to the dollar at UAH 14.8042, which was 33 kopikas below the official rate of the previous business day and a new record low for the hryvnia against the dollar.

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NBU officials also said on Monday that it had been agreed at a meeting with representatives of the largest Ukrainian banks to defend a hryvnia exchange rate of UAH 15-16 to the dollar.

Since November 5, the National Bank of Ukraine has been conducting daily currency auctions of small volumes using a Dutch auction scheme to ensure exchange rate equilibrium or stabilize the exchange rate at the current level.

According to bankers, on economic grounds the exchange rate should be in the range of UAH 13.50-14 to the dollar, but the weakening rate reflects expectations of a possible escalation in the conflict in the east of Ukraine.

National Bank of Ukraine Governor Valeriy Gontareva, the state official charged with defending the stable value of the hryvnia,  said earlier on Ukrainian television’s 1+1 channel that it would be best for the calculation of the 2015 state budget of Ukraine to forecast an exchange rate not higher than UAH 12.95 UAH to the dollar.