The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is ready to continue cooperation with Ukraine within the EFF program if the institutional independence of the central bank is retained, IMF representative Gerry Rice has said.
“The establishment of an independent central bank has been a major achievement under the ongoing program and is a cornerstone in the policies the IMF can support going forward. It is critical therefore that this achievement, that is the independence of the central bank, be protected,” he said at a traditional press briefing in Washington.
In addition, asked whether the NBU’s actions in respect of PrivatBank (Dnipro) in the framework of cleaning the banking system are sufficient, Rice said the IMF does not comment on the situation with certain banks.
As reported, the bill to ensure the transparency of the NBU’s activities and increase its responsibility to the society was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on October 10. The initiators of the document were Head of the Radical Party Oleh Lyashko, head of the parliamentary committee on financial policy Serhiy Rybalka, Viktor Halasyuk (both from the Radical Party), the co-authors were Maksym Polyakov (the People’s Front), Leonid Kozachenko and Mykhailo Dovbenko (both from the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko), and Oleh Lavryk (Samopomich).
