REUTERS
Smolii says he has been hearing calls for policies that would benefit a particular sector of the economy or exporters.
Political pressure on the leadership of the National Bank of Ukraine was manifested in calls to raise inflation to 11% and weaken the hryvnia exchange rate to UAH 30 to the U.S. dollar, says Yakiv Smolii, the former NBU Governor whose resignation was approved by parliament after President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted a relevant motion.
"At many councils, attended by MPs, government officials, Prime Minister and, President calls were voiced for the NBU to flood the economy with money, that the National Bank should change our regulations so as not to regulate the banking sector, and set a course favorable to a particular sector of the economy or to exporters. And it got to the point that we were told 'we have put in the budget inflation at 11% and the rate of UAH 30 to the dollar, and you don't want to do that.' I see this as pressure," Smolii told a briefing in the Rada hall
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He stressed that the NBU top management has long been subjected to systematic political pressure and harassment to agree on decisions that are not economically justified, that focus on short-term easy wins but could cost dearly the Ukrainian economy and Ukrainians in the longer run.
"I'm talking about such decisions as uncontrolled issue of cash money for the government, pumping up inflation to fit budget targets, and artificial devaluation of the hryvnia in the interests of exporters," Smolii added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, today, July 3, the Verkhovna Rada supported the proposal of President Volodymyr Zelensky to dismiss Yakiv Smoliyi from the post of NBU Governor.