Over the three months since the war in Ukraine started, more than 5 million Ukrainians have gone in search of refuge and peaceful life to Europe. In this article we will tell you how much and what Ukrainians spent money on one month in Europe.

In April 2022, Ukrainians spent about $ 2 billion, which includes: paying with or withdrawing cash from Ukrainian bank cards. The National Bank of Ukraine reports that 80% of the $ 2 billion spent in April accounts for purchase of goods at pos-terminals of retail chains, shopping malls and cash withdrawal.

When paying with payment cards, the expenses of Ukrainians were for the following goods and services:

17% - payment for goods in grocery stores / supermarkets;

11% - purchase of non-food items;

8% - payment for hotel services;

5% - operations at gas stations;

4% - payments in catering establishments.

If we compare this to 2021, the spending from Ukrainian banks' cards abroad in April 2022 increased by about 3-4 times. Since the beginning of the war, more than 5 million Ukrainians have left Ukraine. If you count, it turns out that every Ukrainian invests in the economy of European countries at $ 400 per month.

The National Bank of Ukraine calculates differently: it takes data from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, according to which 6.4 million people left Ukraine. So in April, every Ukrainian paid an average of $ 125 (equivalent) with a card and withdrew about $ 150 in cash at an ATM.

If we take the information in terms of banks, we have the following figures:

• PrivatBank reported that its customers had spent about $ 700 million from their payment cards in retail outlets since the start of the war, but did not specify the amount of currency withdrawal transactions.

• Monobank reported that in March-April, ground trade transactions of customers abroad amounted to $ 159 million (at the official exchange rate of the NBU - $ 29.25), and in Ukraine for the same period - about $ 571 million.

Monobank also provided information on how much and in which countries Ukrainians spend their money. The most monobank customers spent in Poland (51.1 million euros), in Germany (22.1 million euros) and in the Czech Republic (9.5 million euros). But if you look at the average check of the transaction, the highest costs are in Austria (almost 28 euros), Italy (27 euros) and Spain (24 euros), and the lowest - in Poland (13.3 euros).

Privatbank and monobank could not report the structure of expenses of Ukrainian citizens and the amount they withdrew at ATMs.