The U.S. Embassy to Ukraine welcomes the appointment of Yakov Smoliy as the head of the National Bank (NBU) by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and also hopes for fruitful cooperation.
“Congratulations to new NBU Ukraine Governor Yakiv Smoliy. Looking forward to working with you and your team. Independent NBU critical for economic growth,” the U.S. Embassy to Ukraine wrote on Twitter on March 16 morning.
As reported, on March 15, the Verkhovna Rada supported the proposal of the president of Ukraine to appoint Yakiv Smoliy head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), who is currently acting head of the central bank. According to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, 247 people’s deputies supported the corresponding decision on the appointment of Smolii at a plenary session on March 15.
Yakiv Smoliy until now has held the post of first deputy head of the NBU, since May 11, 2017 he had been acting head of the central bank.
The new head of the NBU, born in 1961, graduated from the Lviv State University with a degree in Applied Mathematics. In 1991-1994 he worked in the Ternopil branch of the NBU, then moved to Aval bank, where by 2005 he had risen to the deputy head of the board. After the sale of Raiffeisen bank, which was the largest at that time, for a long time, he was the director of banking business created by the ex-owners of Aval Prestige Group. In April 2014 he became its deputy, and in October 2016 – the first deputy head of the NBU.
Smoliy is the tenth leader of the National Bank of Ukraine for the whole history of its existence since 1991.
