Ukraine’s Parliament Approves Resignation of Central Bank Governor

Ukraine’s parliament (Verkhovna Rada) voted to dismiss Central Bank (National Bank of Ukraine, NBU) Governor Yakiv Smoliy on Friday, 3 July. The draft resolution was supported by 286 members of parliament.

Before the vote took place in the Parliament, Smoliy spoke from the floor. During the speech, he noted that his resignation was a protest against “systematic political pressure on the NBU“.

“Pressure is an antonym to effective dialogue. A conversation in which one speaks about the economy and finance, and the other one can just hear their own political interests is doomed to failure. Does my resignation mean that the NBU’s independence has been broken? No! This is a protest, this is a signal, this is a warning, this is a red line. With my resignation, I seek to warn against further attempts to undermine the institutional foundations of the Central Bank in Ukraine,” he stated.

Smoliy also stressed that “…at meetings with the Cabinet of Ministers’ members, with the President and MPs, NBU was appealed to flood the economy with money, to set a currency rate for the importers’ sake… those appeals forced me to make this decision.”

According to Smoliy, currently, the management team and thousands of high-profiles continue to work at the NBU to maintain Ukraine’s macroeconomic and financial stability. However, it is extremely important that their work is not to be hindered by the President, the government or any other politicians.

Thus, Smoliy’s exit was a shock event not only in Ukraine but in the other countries. G7 ambassadors, the International Monetary Fund and representatives of the European Union expressed concern about the situation.

Bohdan Marusyak