President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not initiate the replacement of the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, LB’s correspondent reports, citing his remarks at a meeting with journalists. Volodymyr Zelenskyy recalled that the National Bank is an independent institution.
The current NBU Governor, Andriy Pyshnyy, has “difficult relations” with the government and the Verkhovna Rada, the president said — and generally with government positions.
“Because the position of the National Bank under him and the position of the Ministry of Finance are very different on many issues. And at difficult moments between them, I was asked to resolve the situation, and I have been resolving it all these years. But now, when various information campaigns have already begun that want to influence something, I am no longer taking part in setting up a dialogue between these institutions. Let them understand that they need to think about stability in the country, not about information campaigns,” he said.
Context
According to LB, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has theoretically considered the idea of replacing the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andriy Pyshnyy, but as of now there are no signs that preparations are under way to dismiss him. The information about dissatisfaction with the NBU Governor was first circulated by Bloomberg. The agency’s sources said the head of state considers Pyshnyy “too close” to the International Monetary Fund — which anonymous interlocutors cited as the main reason for the president’s irritation. Tensions between the Ukrainian authorities and the IMF began to rise in winter, when the lender approved the provision of $8.1 billion in exchange for meeting a number of commitments, including the unpopular decision to raise taxes. The Fund later allowed the decision on taxes to be postponed.
The president is also allegedly unhappy that the regulator is not doing enough to support the wartime economy. Among the reasons for Zelenskyy’s dissatisfaction, journalists also cited Andriy Pyshnyy’s public activity, which can be seen as political.
Recently, media outlets circulated information about an investigation into Andriy Pyshnyy’s education diploma. And after NABU stated that the state-owned “Sense Bank” was implicated in a scheme to launder illicit funds for bail for Herman Halushchenko, MPs summoned Pyshnyy to report. He told deputies about the steps the bank had taken in connection with this situation.