Ukraine Is Far From Sustainable Economic Recovery – Central Bank Deputy

What You Need To Know:

✓ The National Bank doesn't have any problems meeting the conditions of the IMF
✓  Ukraine is far from sustainable economic recovery
✓ “Any IMF program would fail if there is no ownership from the side of the country. We see this ownership on our side of the Central bank and I hope this kind of ownership will be all over in Ukraine and in all other institutions.”
✓ The National Bank has taken many steps to defend the Hryvnia, while focusing particularly on inflation

Ukraine’s $1.7 billion tranche of the IMF's $40 billion bailout is on hold until the country meets certain economic and political reform criteria. “With the IMF, we don’t have any problems with meeting the conditions,” says Dmitriy Sologub, Deputy Chairman of Ukraine’s National Bank, explaining that there are no unresolved issues pertaining to monetary policy and financial stability. “We have done a lot about cleaning up the banking system and so on.”

Ukraine is far from sustainable economic recovery, but Sologub believes that the National Bank has done its share for the successful implementation of the IMF program: “Any IMF program would fail if there is no ownership from the side of the country. We see this ownership on our side of the Central bank and I hope this kind of ownership will be all over in Ukraine and in all other institutions.”

With the Ukrainian Hryvnia losing 2% of its value in one week at the end of January, the National Bank has taken many steps over the last couple of months to defend the currency, while focusing particularly on inflation: “The people living in Ukraine should care more about inflation. It’s the chasing power….Prices are more important that the exchange rate.”

The Bank has further put restrictions on the currency, limiting the amount that can be moved into Euros and Dollars. Although bad for business activity, “the IMF program is one of the main conditions to do it,” adds Sologub.

Hromadske’s Ian Bateson and Nataliya Gumenyuk spoke to Dmitriy Sologub, Ukraine National Bank Deputy Chairman, during a live broadcast of The Sunday Show on February 14th, 2016 in Kyiv.