NBU's exchange rate decision may discourage IT specialists from returning to Ukraine - GlobalLogic vice president
MOSCOW. June 2 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Ukraine's (NBU) decision to fix the exchange rate for currency sales by the population following the lifting of the upper limit on currency sales by banks may impact Ukrainian specialists' plans to leave the country, Senior Vice President for Strategy and Technology at the Ukrainian IT company GlobalLogic Andriy Yavorsky said.
"It may serve as an additional trigger prompting people either to want to stay outside Ukraine or to leave it because they feel disappointment with what is happening today," Yavorsky said in response to Ukrainian journalists' questions during an IT Media Club online meeting on Wednesday.
In light of the NBU's aforementioned policy, GlobalLogic has permitted its employees to postpone the payment of their salaries on their own volition, but plans to restart paying them salaries within a week.
"As a business, we work within Ukraine's legislative environment, and we have neither methods nor any solution to this situation," Yavorsky said.
Meanwhile, the other decisions adopted by the NBU are right, he said, adding that it is the NBU's well-considered policy that has allowed Ukraine to avoid an economic collapse.
"We hope that the NBU will continue working effectively instead of tackling isolated problems, which we saw, at the expense of all exporters, because we are not alone who have suffered, but so have all companies that work for export," he said.
As reported, the NBU on February 24 suspended Ukraine's foreign exchange market, except for currency sales, and fixed the official exchange rate at 29.2549 hryvni/$1, thus causing a "black market" to emerge, where the exchange rate jumped to 39-40 hryvni/$1 in the first few days.
The regulator then permitted currency sales at bank offices, which were at risk of forced closure, if their administration decided so, and on May 21 lifted the upper limit on the exchange rate for cash currently sales by banks in Ukraine and on the exchange rate for converting hryvni to foreign currency outside of Ukraine using cards issued by these banks. Previously, the limit of this exchange rate was equal to the official hryvnia exchange rate fixed on February 24 plus 10%, or 32.18 hryvnia/$1. The limit for other currencies was calculated based on the cross rate to the dollar.
GlobalLogic is one of Ukraine's largest software developers. It has offices and employs more than 7,500 specialists in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Mykolaiv.