The British magazine The Banker named the head of the National Bank of Ukraine Andriy Pyshny the best head of the central bank in Europe and the world in 2024. Among the key achievements of the NBU are the fight against inflation, increasing confidence in the hryvnia, and effective cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.
The publication noted the introduction of the Power Banking system, which is a unified network of 2,375 bank branches created at the initiative of the Central Bank, which provides services to clients even during long-term power outages.
Confidence in the hryvnia also increased — time deposits of individuals increased by 28% in 11 months of 2023. The domestic debt market has recovered, with lending increasing by 98% compared to 2022, and inflation falling from 26.6% to 5.1% in the first 11 months of 2023.
In October 2023, the NBU abandoned the fixed exchange rate in favor of a flexible one. Thanks to this, the difference between the cash and non-cash rates decreased to 3%. For comparison: at the beginning of the year it was 10%, in May last year it was 25%. In 2023, the NBU gave up monetary financing of the budget, in contrast to 400 billion hryvnias ($10.8 billion) in 2022. Working closely with the Ministry of Finance, he used tools to successfully revive domestic borrowing.
"I am honored to receive this award. This is international recognition, which should be perceived first of all as another confirmation of the capacity of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people," Andrii Pyshnyi said.
- The Banker award is given annually to the heads of central banks who have best managed to stabilize their countryʼs economy and stimulate its growth.
- Andrii Pyshnyi was appointed head of the NBU in 2022. In the mid-2000s, Pyshnyi worked in senior management positions at Oschadbank and Ukreximbank. From 2014 to 2019, he was the head of Oschadbank, and from May 2022 he worked as an adviser to Serhiy Naumov, the chairman of the board of this bank.