KIEV, Nov 30 (AFP) - The Standard and Poor's ratings agency warned Tuesday that the political crisis gripping Ukraine was straining the country's banking sector and threatening the overall economy.
"The economic and industry risks pertaining to the banking system of Ukraine are very high," the agency's credit analyst Alwin Greder said in a statement issued in London.
He said that a prolonged crisis could test the former Soviet republic's banking sector liquidity amid the first signs that people were making a run on the banks.
Analysts said the central bank has resorted to massive intervention to keep the national currency, the hryvna, stable by spending up to 400 million dollars out of reserves of some 10 billion dollars in the past week.
"We are closely monitoring both the banks' liquidity and the extent of cash withdrawals from the banking system," Greder said.
The rush to buy up dollars and euros prompted the central bank Tuesday to impose limits on purchases of foreign currency, barring individuals from buying more than 1,000 dollars at a single location.
The central bank also ordered banks not to process non-cash exchange transactions in excess of 50,000 dollars and the early payment of fixed-term deposits, the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported.
Businesses are to be limited to withdrawing 80,000 hryvna (15,038 dollars) in cash per month, and individuals limited to daily withdrawals of 1,500 hryvna per day from their bank accounts.
11/30/2004 18:44 GMT - AFP