UNIAN
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted at first reading a law "On amendments to some legislative acts of Ukraine on developing the institutional capacity of the National Bank of Ukraine", the adoption of which is one of the milestones to be passed by the time of the first structural revision of the program by the International Monetary Fund.
When presenting the bill to the parliament, the first deputy head of the NBU, Olexander Pisaruk, noted that major changes to the law concerning the NBU are related to enhancing the fiscal independence of the regulator and optimization of its management and operations.
"Strengthening fiscal independence provides for creation of general reserves sufficient to support the activities of the NBU, and then the prohibition of advance transfers of money to the budget prior to the approval of the financial statements of the NBU by international auditors," he stated.
Pisaruk noted that it is also envisaged to increase the influence of the National Bank Board with respect to monitoring the internal audit and risk management control. In addition, according to him, the law provides for a decrease in the number of members of the Board of the National Bank, an increase in the number of meetings, and the introduction of payment for activities of board members.
"All this is consistent with international standards and is the direction of the NBU’s development in accordance with the model of the central banks of developed countries", Pisaruk added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on May 12, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Financial Policy and Banking recommended that parliament adopt as a basis the law on building up the institutional capacity of the National Bank of Ukraine.
On April 27, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko introduced a bill for the consideration of parliament on amending various laws regarding the development of the institutional capacity of the NBU.
Earlier, Finance Minister Natalia Jaresko announced that the provision of the second tranche of the International Monetary Fund envisages not only holding restructuring talks with Ukraine’s creditors but also fulfilling a number of other conditions, including adopting the laws, inter alia, on strengthening of the independence of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
The second and subsequent tranches of the IMF can be obtained based on results of quarterly assessment missions of the IMF. The next IMF mission began its work in Kyiv on May 12.