In the first days of October, Ukraine's Ministry of Finance published a figure worth the attention of anyone holding savings in hryvnia: the portfolio of domestic government bonds (OVDP) owned by individuals reached 167.5 billion UAH as of 1 October 2026. Over the month the sum grew by more than 4 billion UAH, roughly 2.7%, compared with early September. It is another all-time high: back in August the figure first crossed 159 billion UAH, and at the start of summer it barely exceeded 148 billion UAH. In plain terms: more and more Ukrainians are no longer keeping all their money in a deposit or a current account, and are shifting part of their savings into government securities.
What exactly happened on 1 October
According to the Ministry of Finance, the total volume of OVDP in circulation as of 1 October stood at 1,994.1 billion UAH. The lion's share of this market is held not by households but by banks (917.9 billion UAH) and the National Bank itself (655.8 billion UAH). Legal entities hold bonds worth 209.2 billion UAH, insurance companies 25.7 billion UAH, non-residents only 17.7 billion UAH, and local communities around 0.3 billion UAH. Against this backdrop, the individuals' share of 167.5 billion UAH looks modest, but its growth rate is noticeably higher than that of the other categories of owners, which is exactly what makes the statistic interesting not just for economists but for an ordinary household looking for where its savings actually work.
In September alone, the Ministry held 11 primary placement auctions and raised 18.8 billion UAH, all in hryvnia. Separately, a so-called switch auction took place on 23 September: holders of bonds maturing on 28 October 2026 were offered to exchange them for bonds maturing on 28 February 2029, and 11.5 billion UAH worth (at face value) was exchanged, with a weighted average yield of 12.17%. The Ministry explains the point of such swaps simply: they reduce the risk of "peak" repayments concentrated in one particular month and spread the government's debt load over a longer horizon. In total, over the first nine months of 2026 the state raised 373.9 billion UAH on the domestic market, of which 267 billion UAH came from new issues and 106.8 billion UAH from exchanges.
Why money is partly "leaking" from deposits into bonds
The main reason is simple: yield. At September's auctions of the so-called war bonds (maturing 15 September 2027), the weighted average yield was 15.16-15.18% per annum, and demand exceeded supply almost threefold: bids came in for 16.4 billion UAH at face value, while only 6 billion UAH was accepted. That is a level fully competitive with the best hryvnia deposit offers at banks, and on some issues it even exceeds them. If you have not checked your own bank's terms in a while, now is a good time: compare current hryvnia deposit rates on BankSorter and see whether your bank's rate still holds up against auctions like these.
A second, less obvious factor is trust in sovereign debt itself rather than in any single financial institution. OVDP are issued and serviced by the state, so for a conservative saver they are an alternative way to "lend" money not to a commercial bank but to the budget, with a fixed, known-in-advance yield for the whole life of the bond. The net effect is that people who used to keep everything in deposits or savings accounts are now splitting their money across several instruments at once.
How to buy OVDP if you have never done it before
Technically, any individual can buy bonds through three channels: the Diia app, their own bank, or a broker on the stock market. The face value of one bond is 1,000 UAH, 1,000 USD or 1,000 EUR, so you can enter this instrument with a relatively modest sum rather than only with serious capital. The Ministry of Finance pays coupon income to the holder's account twice a year. Before buying, it is worth asking two practical questions: will this money be needed before the maturity date, and are you willing to "freeze" part of your savings for a fixed, known rate instead of keeping the flexibility of an ordinary account?
What the attractive yield does not tell you
Before moving your entire emergency fund there, it is worth being honest about the risks that the record numbers alone do not show.
- It is not a bank deposit. OVDP are not deposits under banking law, so they are not covered by the Deposit Guarantee Fund, which applies specifically to money held in bank accounts and deposits. Getting your money back depends entirely on the state's ability to service its own debt, not on the financial soundness of any particular bank.
- Limited liquidity. If you need the money before maturity, you can only sell the bond early on the secondary market, and not always at the price you expected. A bank deposit, even with a partial loss of accrued interest, is usually easier and faster to break.
- A systemic, not a personal, risk. By buying sovereign debt, a person takes on risks tied to the entire wartime economy, rather than risks of a single institution that could simply be swapped for a sturdier one if problems arose.
- Taxation has its own nuances. The rules for declaring and taxing OVDP income differ from the usual rules for deposit interest, so before a large purchase it is worth checking the current rules on the Ministry of Finance or tax authority's website rather than relying on what a friend said.
Who OVDP suit, and who should stick with familiar tools
Bonds make sense as a complement, not a full replacement, for an emergency fund kept in an ordinary current or savings account with free access to the money. A sensible model for most households: keep money for monthly spending and a two-to-three-month buffer where it can be accessed instantly, for example in a savings account that allows withdrawals at any time, and only direct the portion of savings that definitely will not be needed for a year or longer partly into OVDP or a classic term deposit, choosing whichever gives the better yield for that specific term.
People who have not even settled on which bank to use for everyday transactions should start with a basic step: compare personal account terms across banks before deciding where to direct any surplus above monthly spending. Without a convenient, low-cost main account, any savings strategy, whether a deposit or OVDP, works worse than it could.
What to do right now
A record of 167.5 billion UAH is not a reason to rush and pull money out of deposits to buy bonds with everything you have. It is a signal that it is worth regularly reviewing where your savings actually work, and comparing not just banks against each other but bank products against government securities too. Start simply: check current rates for deposits and savings accounts across different banks, and only then decide whether part of your savings should go into OVDP. Diversification, spreading money across several instruments instead of concentrating it in one place, remains the simplest and cheapest way to protect your own capital, whatever the Ministry of Finance's next monthly report shows.