I am a former CEO of Moscow Narodny Bank (now VTB), have worked in the CIS countries since 1993, and am presently a senior Consultant on European Bank of Reconstrution and Development and World Bank financial projects in CIS countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
I have worked in Ukraine since 2001.
While insufficient information is provided by the NBU to fully justify its actions, it is apparent that the government of Ukraine is intent upon greater levels of control and restriction on public life.
While most of the developing world embraces greater global integration and transparency, Ukraine seems to be moving backwards into the dark ages of the autocracy and bureaucracy that epitomised Soviet-era style of government.
Such a vision for Ukraine is a huge mistake which can set back Ukrainian development and integration with the global community, for many years. NBU, as controller of the money-supply and regulator of the commercial banks, has many options available to control and be informed about currency operations and non-cash transactions. Unfortunately, it has not apparently sought to order a commercial bank round table conference to openly debate the NBU imperatives and to agree the necessary technology parameters and investment needed for reliable and invisible analysis of money flows.
So instead, we are seeing the consequence of previous lack of vision and panic measures resulting in the most crude control mechanisms being imposed which are more to be expected in countries exhibiting backward-thinking dictatorships, rather than those that are applicable to the well educated and increasingly well-travelled Ukrainian population. It is clearly a government error. Either deliberate or inadvertent, it makes no difference.
Sadly, it appears that Ukraine’s progress in the world will have to await the arrival of a new generation of more enlightened and more selfless politicians and civil-servants before consistent improvement in the lives of Ukrainian people can be expected.
Why is it so difficult in Ukraine, for the NBU to explain, on national television channels, what are its reasons for changes in regulatory rules that affect the lives of every Ukrainian citizen and foreign visitor? It is inconceivable that such changes could occur in developed democratic countries without such explanations.It is a clear failure of leadership at the top of the NBU.
Sincerely,
Derek Farmer
Kyiv
