Financial sector news

Andriy Pyshnyy, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, spoke about the NBU’s experience under martial law in an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt. War, attacks on energy infrastructure, falling production, and capital flight created a situation that the NBU Governor himself called a “perfect storm” for the financial system.

Despite this, the banking sector has not stopped working for a single day. In the first months of Pyshnyy's tenure, the NBU launched the POWER BANKING project — a network of bank branches with autonomous power supply and backup communication channels.
“This was probably the first war where you could use Google Pay or Apple Pay,” he said.

To curb panic in the currency market and maintain stability, the National Bank fixed the hryvnia exchange rate, introduced temporary currency restrictions, and contributed to the financing of defense expenditures.
Andriy Pyshnyy compared these steps to a medical tourniquet:

"We applied a tourniquet to stop the inflationary bleeding. Then we gradually began to remove it, adapting the economy to the war."

As a result, inflation has fallen from over 25% in 2022 to 13.2% today, and the discount rate is 15.5%. Confidence in the banking system has been restored, the hryvnia has been stabilized, and the financial infrastructure has been preserved.

International experts recognize the effectiveness of the regulator's actions. Olga Pindjuk, an economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW), noted that the Ukrainian central bank “has generally done quite well” and that currency restrictions were a “necessary evil.”
According to Germany Trade and Invest, the Ukrainian economy remains “remarkably resilient”: after a 30% drop in GDP in 2022, it grew by 5.5% in 2023 and by another 2.9% in 2024.

At the same time, Ukraine continues to need international support. About 60% of the budget is allocated to defense, and the current IMF program worth $15.5 billion will continue until 2027. The Ministry of Finance is already preparing a new four-year program of cooperation with the Fund.

The IMF notes that the Ukrainian economy remains stable but calls for continued reforms to strengthen the investment climate, improve governance, and fight corruption.