NBU gets new deputy head responsible for monetary policy

The Council of the National Bank of Ukraine approved on
July 13 the appointment of Serhiy Nikolaychuk as deputy NBU head responsible
for the “monetary stability” wing of the regulator. The term in office of his
predecessor, Dmytro Sologub, expired the day before. Nikolaychuk worked for the
NBU in 2004-2019, and headed the monetary policy and economic analysis
department beginning in 2015, where he helped Sologub to implement the
inflation targeting regime for Ukraine. In September 2019, Nikolaychuk was
appointed as deputy economy minister, where he worked for about half a year.

Sologub joined the NBU as deputy head in 2015. He led
the transformation of the NBU to inflation targeting policy and contributed
greatly to what the IMF calls the NBU independence. He was one of the two NBU
executive board members (out of six total) to remain after the new NBU head
Kyrylo Shevchenko was appointed in mid-2020. He and the other remaining
executive, Kateryna Rozhkova, were apparently in the opposition to Shevchenko
and often criticized him.

Alexander Paraschiy: The appointment
allows us to expect that the monetary policy of the NBU will remain unchanged
with Sologub’s exit, meaning that the central bank’s independence in monetary
policy will be preserved. This is vital for Ukraine’s continuing cooperation
with the IMF and other Western partners. Time will show whether such
expectations are valid.

As Sologub was in opposition to the NBU head, his
position might have been often ignored by the board, raising the question of
the NBU’s independence in monetary policy. Nikolaychuk has a chance to raise
the stature of the monetary wing’s positions, which will benefit the regulator.