Deposits and government bonds

To compare a deposit with a government bond fairly, put both on the same footing: after tax. As of September 2026 the bank withholds 23% of deposit interest, while interest on hryvnia government bonds is free of both the income tax and the military levy.

So a 16% bond is worth more than a 16% deposit. To see how much, gross the bond up: what pre-tax deposit rate would leave the same 16%? A deposit keeps 77% of its rate, so r × 0.77 = 16, giving r = 16 / 0.77 = 20.78%. No big-bank 12-month deposit pays that.

The rule: never compare a tax-free rate with a taxable one directly. Either take 23% off the deposit, or divide the tax-free rate by 0.77 to see the deposit it really matches.

Ukraine's deposit guarantee covers the money individuals and sole proprietors hold in a bank: term deposits, card accounts and current accounts, in hryvnias or foreign currency. If the bank fails, the state Deposit Guarantee Fund repays it. Foreign-currency deposits are covered too, but paid out in hryvnias at the official rate.

Government bonds are different. Even when you buy them through a bank's app, they aren't a deposit — they're the state's own debt, recorded in a separate securities account, not on the bank's balance sheet. So the fund doesn't cover them; what stands behind them is the state's promise to repay.

As of September 2026 the fund repays in full during martial law and for three months after it, then up to 600,000 UAH per person per bank. These terms change, so check the current ones.

Government bonds are bought in whole units. One bond has a face value of 1,000 (in hryvnias, dollars or euros), and the market price is usually a little above or below that, depending on the issue and the day. You can buy as few as one, but never a fraction.

So the number you can buy is your money divided by the price, rounded down. At 1,025.50 per bond, 150,000 / 1,025.50 = 146.27, which means 146 whole bonds. They cost 146 × 1,025.50 = 149,723, and the remaining 150,000 − 149,723 = 277 stays on the account.

Always round down: the leftover can't buy a part-bond, so it waits for the next purchase or sits in cash. The bigger the price per bond relative to your sum, the more can be left stranded.

A bond's market price moves over its life, but that only matters if you sell early. Held to maturity, a government bond repays its face value plus the agreed interest on a known date, whatever the price did in between.

So if you match the bond's maturity to when you need the money, the ups and downs of the price are noise: you already know the final amount. Selling before maturity is the opposite — then you get today's market price, which can be below what you paid, and the bank buys a little under the price it sells at.

This is why the term should fit the goal. Pick a bond maturing shortly before the money is needed, and you lock in a known outcome; plan to sell early, and you take on price risk you didn't need.

The post-martial-law deposit guarantee has a cap: 600,000 UAH per person, per bank, counting all that person's accounts in that bank together. Anything above the cap in a single bank is not covered if the bank fails.

So someone with 750,000 on deposits in one bank has 750,000 − 600,000 = 150,000 uncovered. The cap is per bank and per person, which points to two fixes: split the money across two banks (say 400,000 and 350,000), or, for a couple, hold it in both partners' names. Either way each slice sits under 600,000 and the whole sum is covered.

For small savings the cap is irrelevant; it starts to bite as savings grow or when a household keeps everything in one place. And the date it applies, "three months after martial law", is not fixed, so check the fund's current terms.