Today, on May 29, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv has met with Mr Frank Heemskerk, Executive Director of the Dutch Constituency of the World Bank Group, and Mr Roman Zhukovskyi, Alternate Executive Director of the World Bank. Ukraine has been part of the Dutch Constituency together with other countries.
The sides discussed the main avenues for further cooperation as part of funding a number of projects aimed at ensuring the smooth functioning of the financial sector and mitigating risks in the banking system.
Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv pointed out that this cooperation was crucial for Ukraine as it rested on reforms in specific areas of the banking system. “In recent weeks, the National Bank of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Government and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with assistance from the experts of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund have made good progress in many areas, including in the legislative sphere, ” stressed Mr Stepan Kubiv.
According to Mr Stepan Kubiv, the day before the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine had tabled a draft law designed to forestall (mitigate) the adverse impact on banking sector stability in parliament for discussion. The draft law amending some of the laws of Ukraine, which had been preliminarily agreed upon by the experts from the World Bank Group, is designed to create conditions needed to ensure the prompt capitalization of banks in the event of the worsening of their financial standing, cease transactions that could have an adverse effect on the money market (manipulation), and offer mechanism to wind down failed banks. The draft law will also enhance the capacity of the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
In his turn, Mr Frank Heemskerk noted that the World Bank stood ready to further support Ukraine and cooperate with Ukraine's authorities to achieve success.
On May 26, 2014, a number of loan agreements worth a total of USD 1.5 billion had been signed between Ukraine and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In addition, 6 loan agreements worth a total of USD 1.7 billion between Ukraine and the institutions that make up the World Bank Group are expected to be have been signed by the end of 2014.