The Ukrainian parliament has accepted Valeriya Hontareva's resignation as head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and replaced her with Yakov Smoliy.He has been the acting head of the NBU since spring 2017. He was nominated for the NBU chief by President Petro Poroshenko in January 2018.
According to Smoliy, his six priorities are to slow down the inflation to 5% per annum, revive the banking system, renew the issuance of loans, introduce an effective model of financial regulation, carry out foreign currency liberalisation, and make banking services safe and accessible.