You're reading: MP Dubinsky accuses NBU of extra strengthening of hryvnia exchange rate

MP Oleksandr Dubinsky (the Servant of the People Party) has accused the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) of extra strengthening of the hryvnia exchange rate, as there are no grounds for this.

“I see the destruction of the banking system, the lost money, the formation of a financial pyramid on the government securities market and the manipulation of the exchange rate. There are no economic reasons to strengthen the exchange rate. Now we will get what it was in 2004-2005, 2008-2009. The NBU is responsible for all this,” Dubinsky said in a comment after a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

At the same time, he said that he supported the protests in front of the central bank, although he denied his attitude to them.

Earlier that day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the independence of Governor of the NBU Yakiv Smolii is protected by law. He also said that he was in constant contact with Smolii and asked him to personally report any cases of pressure.

As reported, the Board of the NBU on Wednesday claimed the focused several-weeks-lasting attack on the regulator in the form of hit pieces and libel in the media, paid protests near the building of the NBU and even attempt by hired thugs to forcibly invade it.

“We believe that this pressure on the NBU comes from Ihor Kolomoisky, an oligarch and PrivatBank’s former owner who owes the state $5.5 billion he siphoned off from PrivatBank before it was nationalized,” the Board said.

The following facts prove that the information campaign is a paid-for action and Ihor Kolomoisky has been behind it. Protestors at the walls of the NBU, according to the media reports, are paid to take part in protests. On 25 November employees of the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant and other companies controlled by Kolomoisky joined the protests, who previously held a rally outside the PrivatBank offices in Dnipro and Kyiv.

This attack is carried out through the main driver, MP Dubinsky, who has been under investigation for corruption and has been known in media as the mouthpiece of oligarch Kolomoisky, the NBU said.

The NBU has referred to the law enforcement requesting prevention of illegal actions.