NBU Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko and his Deputy Sergiy Nikolaychuk have concluded their business trip to Washington D.C. as part of Ukraine’s official delegation for Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group.
During their visit, the NBU leadership took part in a number of events and meetings with high-ranking officials of the IMF, the World Bank, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the Board of the U.S. Export-Import Bank. The key issues in the spotlight of this year’s Spring Meetings included:
- Ukraine’s current economic situation and financial sector conditions
- consequences of russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine for the global economy and the Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe
- providing Ukraine with financial assistance from international partners to safeguard our country’s macrofinancial stability
- searching for additional sources of assistance for Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction effort
- prospects for further cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF and the World Bank
- scaling up sanctions pressure on russia, continuing efforts by the international community to isolate russia from the global financial system, and more.
Kyrylo Shevchenko delivered a speech at the Constituency Meeting of regional groups of IMF and World Bank member states, which include Ukraine. The topic of this year’s Constituency Meeting was the “Impact of the russian Invasion of Ukraine on Constituency Countries in the Region.”
“Russia’s devastating invasion of Ukraine is already affecting the global economy. Every day of the war increases the scale of its consequences, losses for the Ukrainian and global economies, and the future cost of economic recovery,” NBU Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko emphasized.
Russia’s military aggression requires unprecedented and unanimous political decisions by members of the international community, as not only has Ukraine been attacked, but also the entire world has come under threat of assault, Kyrylo Shevchenko said.
Support from international partners is vital and will help maintain Ukraine’s macrofinancial stability and lay the groundwork for the Ukrainian economy’s recovery from the losses caused by the war, Sergiy Nikolaychuk said in a meeting concerned with prospects for the economic development of the Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe.
Overall, international partners highlighted the success of the measures taken by the NBU to support the economy and maintain financial stability in Ukraine under martial law, and expressed their willingness to continue to assist our country.
During the visit, the NBU leadership also held bilateral meetings with the heads of the ECB, the central banks of Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Lithuania, and with the Austrian and Lithuanian ministers of Finance.
The Spring Meetings were marked by what came as a milestone event for the Ukrainian central bank. ECB President Christine Lagarde invited the NBU Governor to join an ad-hoc meeting of the ECB General Council, which comprises the ECB President, the ECB Vice President, and governors of the central banks of the 27 EU Member States (these officials represent 19 Eurozone countries and 8 non-Eurozone countries).
“It comes as an important step in bringing our country closer to the EU. This platform will enable us to engage in dialogue with the ECB and the European system of central banks,” Kyrylo Shevchenko said in a comment.