NPR

Katharina Spurich lives in Le Viv and spans part of her time fundraising for medicines

that she sends to people in the front lines of the Ukraine War.

Katharina is counting euros she's raised from international donors on GoFundMe.

When Katharina goes to other countries like Germany, she withdraws her euros or dollars from ATMs

and then she brings the cash into Ukraine.

To buy cheap medicines in Ukraine, she needs the local currency, the Heribnia.

And to convert her dollars or euros into Heribnia, she sees two options.

Go through official channels, through her banks, or she can use street currency dealers.

With the street dealers, she can get a rate for Heribnia that's about 10% better than the official rate.

10% more Heribnia means 10% more medicine.

This is very helpful because there are people who can survive thanks to this medicine.

The reason why Katharina can get a better deal on the street, says a lot about how money moves around the world.

This is the indicator from planet money, I'm Whalen Wong.

And I'm Darien Woods.

Today on the show, the underground market for Ukrainian currency.

We learn about an emergency break pulled on the Ukraine financial system

and what this can teach us about exchange rate systems globally.

Soon after Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine, Katharina Spariche's mother called her from Kiev.

Katharina had already escaped to Lviv in the safer western part of Ukraine.

But Katharina's mother had been sitting in a cold basement with air-raid sirens,

howling all day and all night.

...