The National Bank has given an official response to all the accusations of Valeria Gontareva, the former head of the central bank, calling them emotional and noting that they operate exclusively with numbers and facts, UNN reports with reference to the NBU.
"The National Bank of Ukraine considers it necessary to comment on the emotional statements of the former head of the central bank, relying solely on figures, facts and the assessment of international partners," the statement said.
According to the NBU, if the central bank's policy were focused on earning profits to increase state budget revenues, it could lead to multibillion-dollar losses for the economy and citizens.
"In mid-2022, the economy and population were just beginning to adjust to the new reality, and the level of international reserves was at its lowest level since the beginning of the full-scale war, for example, in August 2022 - $22.4 billion," the response reads.
The NBU cited the example that global history shows that careless central bank policies can lead to a loss of confidence and serious consequences even in the best of circumstances. If the NBU had started to ease restrictions and cut rates earlier, it could have depleted international reserves faster, violating the basic principles of the economy. Ukraine would have risked facing a deep currency crisis, which could have made it impossible to lend, lower interest rates, and attract investment through currency liberalization.
"And finally, Ukraine's international partners have repeatedly emphasized the effectiveness of the NBU's monetary and exchange rate policies," the NBU added.
The response also stated that a number of leading politicians and economists approved of the NBU's actions.
"Commenting on the situation in Ukraine, Alfred Kammer, Head of the IMF's European Department, said that the achieved macro-financial stability is critical to national security. The NBU understands this as well as anyone, which is why "ensuring macrofinancial stability under any circumstances" is one of the most important goals of the NBU Strategy," the NBU added.
Details
Last Friday, former National Bank Governor Valeria Gontareva harshly criticized the performance of the current NBU leadership during the Russian invasion. She claimed that under the leadership of Andriy Pyshnyi, banks were making excessive profits, which came at the expense of business restrictions and insufficient funding for the state budget.
"In the seven years since I left the National Bank, I have never publicly criticized the NBU. But the time has come. Because wrong monetary and currency policies lead to wrong results and, unfortunately, only increase risks and accumulate imbalances in the economy," Gontareva said in a commentary to the media.
She accused the current governor of the National Bank, Andriy Pyshnyi, of "timid policy on the discount rate, late currency liberalization, too cautious policy on reserves, lack of import restrictions, poor lending policy, etc.
"I'm sorry, but this is a terrible job by the National Bank," she said.
Recall
The National Bank of Ukraine has raised the dollar to hryvnia exchange rate to historic highs of 40.1153 hryvnia per dollar and 43.491 hryvnia per euro.