Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeria Gontareva has attended the Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, which were held in Lima, Peru from October 8-12, 2015.
Valeria Gontareva, who led the official Ukrainian delegation, has had meetings with senior officials of the IMF and the World Bank, senior executives of the central banks of Canada, Poland, Sweden, New Zealand, Austria, Cyprus and representatives from leading international companies.
The economic situation in Ukraine, the NBU’s monetary policy, the provision of international assistance, as well a number of bilateral cooperation issues were high on the agenda at these meetings.
“Peru can serve as a role model for the emerging market countries that have launched a comprehensive reform targeting all sectors of the economy. Over the past 10 years, Peru's economy has grown at an annual average rate of 6%. The country has accumulated foreign exchange reserves up to 30% of GDP, brought public sector debt down to 15% of GDP, and stabilized inflation at around 2.7%. Peru once referred to as country with high poverty level that saw the absence of healthcare and education facilities has emerged as a reform leader in Latin America. The stock of foreign exchange reserves amounting to USD 60.7 billion for the country with a population of 30 million is the key to its economic development and financial stability, which is what we should strive to achieve,” said the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.
At the meetings of the constituencies of the IMF and World Bank which comprise 15 and 13 countries respectively, including Ukraine, Valeria Gontareva announced that such a meeting would be held in Kyiv in early June, 2016. This meeting will bring together the governors of central banks and finance ministers of 15 countries and IMF and WB representatives to address the region's economic development issues, as well as the challenges facing the region.
At a meeting with the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the sides discussed the details of the upcoming visit by the senior officials of the National Bank of Ukraine to New Zealand to study practices in decision-making of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which is known to take the lead among other central banks.
At a meeting with senior executives of the Central Bank of Sweden, Valeria Gontareva thanked her Swedish partners for the bilateral cooperation under the recently concluded swap agreement that covers the purchase and sale of up to US$500 million against the Ukrainian hryvnia. The funds that we will receive under the swap agreement will be used to replenish Ukraine’s international reserves. The sides also discussed the details of technical assistance to be provided to Ukraine by the Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden’s Central Bank) that would share knowledge and expertise with the National Bank of Ukraine within important central-bank-related areas.
Within the framework of the visit, an agreement on cooperation was reached between the National Bank of Ukraine and the Central Bank of Cyprus in areas of banking supervision and financial monitoring.
At the meeting with Valeria Gontareva, Mr. Maurice Obstfeld, IMF Chief Economist, expressed his backing to the IMF's close cooperation with Ukraine under the EFF arrangement and commended the efforts undertaken by the National Bank of Ukraine, notably the regulator's significant achievements in monetary policy.