In order to promote transparency and predictability of the monetary policy the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) following the example set by leading central banks on targeting inflation began the release of the Summary of the Discussion on the Key Policy Rate at the Monetary Policy Committee detailing the discussion between the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members preceding the NBU Board approval of the decision on the key policy rate. Today the NBU released for the first time the Summary of the Discussion of the MPC meeting that was held on 24 January 2018 prior to the decision on increasing the key policy rate up to 16% per annum.
In contrast to press releases on the monetary policy decisions indicating the consensus position of the NBU Board, the Summary of the Discussion detail the depersonalized views of all MPC members on the necessary monetary policy decision and respective arguments presentednot only by the majority, but alternative opinions as well. The release of such a depersonalized discussion of the key policy rate is common practice of central banks in Poland, the Czech Republic, Chile, Hungary, Brazil, the UK, Holland, Turkey, Iceland, Israel, Columbia and Romania.
The publication of the discussion outcomes is meant to provide market players with a better understanding of the reasoning and motivation behind the NBU Board decisions. This will improve market players’ ability to anticipate further changes in the NBU monetary policy, and consequently advance the effect of the interest rate channel of the transmission mechanism and a more effective management of inflation expectations.
The new document will be published on regular basis in the Monetary Policy/ Monetary Policy Decisions section in Summary of the Discussion on the Key Policy Rate at the Monetary Policy Committee and Schedule of the Meetings subsections on the 11th day after the NBU Board adopts the monetary policy decision.
Please be reminded, that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is an advisory body within the NBU created for sharing information and opinions on monetary policy formulation and implementation in order to ensure price stability. The MPC consists of the NBU Governor, other NBU Board members, heads of the departments for monetary policy and economic analysis, open market operations, financial stability, and statistics and reporting. The MPC is convened on the eve of the NBU Board meetings on monetary policy issues.
Summary of the Discussion on the Key Policy Rate at the Monetary Policy Committee dated 24 January 2018: link.