Former Oschadbank chief Andrei Pyshny heads National Bank of Ukraine
MOSCOW. Oct 7 (Interfax) - Ukraine's parliament has appointed Andrei Pyshny as the new governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, first deputy head of the parliamentary Committee for Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, said on Telegram that 290 MPs had voted in favor of Pyshny.
Pyshny headed Ukraine's state-owned Oschadbank from 2014 to 2020. He had been named as a possible candidate for governor when the issue of a possible change in the head of the NBU has arisen in the past. He was also ready to compete for the post of head of Ukreximbank, but the contest was canceled. Pyshny became an adviser to the CEO of Oschadbank in May of this year.
Ukrainian media have reported also that Prime Minister Denis Shmygal congratulated Pyshny on his appointment in social media. Shmygal said he is confident that cooperative efforts by the government and the NBU should guarantee macroeconomic stability and control of processes in the country.
As Ukrainian media reported, Pyshny attended the Verkhovna Rada meeting. Speaking at the meeting, Pyshny said Ukraine's international reserves have grown in October to $24 billion from $23.9 billion. He described the decisions on restrictions as appropriate during the crisis and said the refinancing rate would remain at the level of 25% for the time being.
The hryvnia exchange rate set by the NBU is consistent with the economic realities, and its market fluctuations have been prompted by the psychological factor, Pyshny said, declining to make any forecasts about the national currency's exchange rate.
Ukraine should coordinate its domestic debt policy with its international partners, and the NBU believes the monetary transmission mechanism has not yet fully produced the desired results, he said.
Ukraine needs more than $30 billion to compensate for the budget deficit, which could be provided by international partners with the International Monetary Fund's support, Pyshny said.
He also welcomed the Finance Ministry's statement in favor of doing away with the budget's monetary financing but acknowledged that this depends on international partners and their support.
Kirill Shevchenko tendered his resignation as NBU governor to the Ukrainian president on October 4, saying he was standing down for health reasons. He was appointed for a seven year term on July 16, 2020. He headed the state-owned Ukrgazbank prior to that. The parliament's Finance Committee approved Shevchenko's resignation on October 6.
It was reported on Thursday that the Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities suspect Shevchenko of offenses resulting in losses of more than UAH 206 million during the period when he worked at Ukrgazbank. The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office said on Telegram that five people implicated, including Shevchenko, had been notified they were under suspicion. According to the prosecutors' information, it has been determined that the administration of the bank, having information on banking services contracts signed with large clients, used it to misappropriate funds.