The hyrvnia has been supported recently by state-run Oshchadny Bank, which has been conducting regular quasi-interventions in support of the currency, pegged at about 8 per dollar since early 2010.

The hryvnia has traded between 8.10 and 8.15 per dollar in the last few weeks and the government has forecast the average exchange rate at 8.40 this year.

Some analysts believe that the International Monetary Fund, from which Ukraine is seeking a $15 billion loan, will insist on more significant exchange rate adjustment than that when a Fund mission arrives in Kiev in late March.

But the government may seek to resist that, given Ukraine's broader financial problems and the need to buy gas from Russia that is already prohibitively expensive for one of the former Soviet Union's poorer economies.

Six-month non-deliverable forwards out the rate at 8.78/8.86 per dollar on Monday.

Ukraine's exports are dominated by steel and local steel makers started cutting output last year citing high costs, weak demand and increasing competition from China.