Presidential secretariat's first deputy head Shlapak: NBU unlikely to be secretly financing 2008 state budget's deficit
The Presidential Secretariat's first deputy head Oleksandr Shlapak www.kommersant.ua

Presidential secretariat's first deputy head Shlapak: NBU unlikely to be secretly financing 2008 state budget's deficit

November 18, 2008 at 15:52 | Ukrainian News
The Presidential Secretariat's first deputy head Oleksandr Shlapak believes that it is unlikely that the National Bank of Ukraine is secretly financing the deficit of the 2008 state budget by buying the government's domestic loan bonds (OVDPs).

Shlapak announced this at a news briefing



"I have no information that would confirm or deny actions by the National Bank in support of the state budget's deficit," Shlapak said.

According to Shlapak, the increase in the volume of government bonds bought by the National Bank of Ukraine is not connected with deliberate financing of the state budget's deficit.

"As far as I know, [the NBU bought the OVDPs] not for the purpose of financing the state budget's deficit," Shlapak said.

Shlapak did not provide more detailed comments on this issue.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the National Bank of Ukraine has sharply increased the volume of its OVDP purchases since the beginning of this year: it has thus far bought OVDPs worth more than UAH 3 billion.