The National Bank of Ukraine has approved the composition of the Monetary Policy Committee (hereinafter – the Committee) and the schedule for its meetings for 2015.

According to the approved schedule, the Committee meetings will be held once a month. Below is the schedule for the Committee meetings to be held in 2015:

If required, the possibility is envisaged for the extraordinary meetings to be convened upon the instruction of the Chairperson of the Committee or at the initiative of the majority of its members.

The Committee comprises 9 members.

The Committee is chaired by the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeriia Gontareva.

The Committee comprises the following members:

• First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Oleksandr Pysaruk;
• Acting Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Vladyslav Rashkovan;
• Director of Open Market Operations Department Oleh Churii;
• Director of the Monetary Policy and Economic Analysis Department Serhii Nikolaichuk;
• Director of Statistics and Reporting Department Yurii Polovniov;
• Committee Secretary – Head of the Office for Monetary Policy Strategy Volodymyr Lepushynskyi.

Following the decision to appoint Deputy Governors of the National Bank of Ukraine responsible for Monetary Stability and Market Operations, as well as Director of Financial Stability Department, the aforementioned senior managers will be appointed as members of the Committee.

Director of the Monetary Policy and Economic Analysis Department Serhii Nikolaichuk said that at the present stage the Committee had been set up as a consultative and advisory body, which on a continuous basis devises proposals and recommendations for the Board and Council of the National Bank of Ukraine with regard to the monetary policy formulation and implementation.

According to him, using the Committee as a platform for the monetary policy decision-making process has become the rule rather than the exception when it comes to practices of the central banks of other countries.

"The advantage of this approach is that it allows for the aggregation of information and its processing, as well as the decision-making process to be put solely into the hands of relevant experts on these issues. In its turn, this scheme will help reduce bureaucracy and engage the senior management team of the regulator in the run-up to decision-making," explained Serhii Nikolaichuk..

For reference

The first "pilot" meeting of the Committee was held  in December 2014.

At the briefing, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeriia Gontareva informed the public about the outcome of the second meeting, which was held on January 29, 2015.

Based on the insight into the financial market conditions, the analysis of the macroeconomic indicators and the results of the projected scenarios, the Committee devises proposals on:

• a draft of the Monetary Policy Fundamentals;
• the economic instruments and monetary tools for the implementation of the Monetary Policy Fundamentals and decisions of the National Bank of Ukraine Council on these issues;
• key parameters of operations with assets and liabilities for the purpose of banking system liquidity regulation;
• formulating and implementing the exchange rate policy
• setting and changing the discount and other interest rates of the NBU;
• determining the amount and procedure of formation of the banks’ obligatory reserves;
• monetary and fiscal policies coordination.