Ukraine's financial stress index returns to prewar level as Russia's hits record
Ukraine's central bank says the country's financial stress index has returned to its prewar level (photo: flickr.com)
Last month, Ukraine's financial stress index returned to its January 2022 level. Meanwhile, the situation in Russia is deteriorating rapidly, according to a report by the National Bank of Ukraine and The Moscow Times.
At the beginning of 2026, the regulator recorded fluctuations in the index. They were caused not only by the weakening of the hryvnia, but also by a seasonal decline in banks' liquidity ratios.
Despite this, the situation improved significantly in the spring. One of the main reasons was the corporate securities sub-index. It improved thanks to the redemption of high-yield eurobonds by Ukrainian corporations.
The stock price index of Ukrainian companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange also played an important role.
"The government securities sub-index reached its lowest level since the beginning of the full-scale invasion due to lower yields on domestic government bonds and narrower spreads on sovereign eurobonds," the National Bank of Ukraine's report says.
The National Bank emphasizes that the financial stress index reflects only the current state of the financial sector. It does not take future risks and challenges into account. Another important point is that this indicator remains volatile.
As for the situation in Russia, the index reached a new record there. It rose to 2.47 points, its highest level since October 2022.
"The indicator came very close to the critical threshold of 2.5 points, exceeding which has historically corresponded to periods of crisis in the financial system," The Moscow Times writes.
