You're reading: Ukraine’s international donors unsatisfied with pace of reform, says NBU

Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Valeriya Gontareva has said that Ukraine’s international donors are not satisfied with the pace of reforms in the country.

A source in financial circles told Interfax-Ukraine that Gontareva made the announcement at a meeting with representatives of the largest banks in Ukraine held at the NBU on Monday.

“Ukraine constantly asks for increased financing to meet its needs, and is not showing progress in any area… The whole world is unsatisfied with the absence of real change in Ukraine and the pace of the planned reforms,” the source told Interfax-Ukraine.

“She [Gontareva] said that the only state agency which has really started to reform in Ukraine is the NBU. However, unfortunately, this does not help the country,” the banker added.

The source said that the NBU head had stated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission is working with the government and the national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy, but the country cannot wait for concrete progress on this issue until the end of the year: at best a positive decision continuing the financing program could be made at a meeting of the IMF in early January 2015.

“We had large expectations for the new government. Unfortunately, the market does not see positive moment and does not react positively to the new Cabinet [of Ministers], and there are no practical steps on the improvement of the situation,” the banker said, citing Gontareva.

The source said that Gontareva hopes that the IMF Stand-By Arrangement will be expanded, but the IMF will not do this independently, without the participation of other international financial institutions.

The banker also said that Gontareva pointed out the strict demands made by the IMF for reform in the Ukrainian banking sector.

“The main demand is the serious additional capitalization of the banking system in clearly set terms, and non-provision of support to banks which do not observe the requirements,” the source said.