You're reading: Parliament approves Smolii’s resignation as head of Ukraine’s central bank

The Verkhovna Rada on July 3 approved the resignation of Yakov Smolii, head of the National Bank of Ukraine.

Kateryna Rozhkova, a deputy head of the bank, has taken over as its acting chief.

Smolii’s resignation may jeopardize the International Monetary Fund’s $5 billion lending program for Ukraine.

A total of 286 lawmakers supported Smolii’s resignation. The move was supported by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, the pro-Russian Opposition Platform-For Life faction and part of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna faction. Dovira (Trust), a group linked to oligarch Renat Akhmetov, and Za Maibutne (For the Future), a group linked to oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, also backed Smoliy’s resignation.

Smolii complained about “systematic political pressure to make decisions that are not economically justified and may cost dear to the Ukrainian economy in the long term.”

“This is a protest, a signal and a warming,” Smolio said. “It’s a red line. Through my resignation, I’m seeking to warn against further attempts to disrupt the institutional foundation of Ukraine’s central bank.”

Smolii said earlier he had resigned due to political pressure – pressure that some believe came directly from Zelensky and quite possibly billionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who has been trying to regain ownership of PrivatBank after he stuck taxpayers with a $5.5 billion bailout from alleged massive insider lending when he owned Ukraine’s largest bank.

Smolii submitted his letter of resignation to Zelensky on July 1, saying that he can no longer “fulfill my obligations to manage the activities of the National Bank and its cooperation with other state agencies,” the central bank announced on its website.

Tomas Fiala, CEO of investment firm Dragon Capital who is also the president of the 1,000-member European Business Association, said Smolii’s resignation would harm the price of Ukrainian assets and the currency.

“We will put new investments on hold as the authorities have been doing for the last five months exactly the opposite from what investors, both domestic and international, expect from them and advise them. This is the last straw,” he told the Kyiv Post in a message.

Similar concerns were voiced by the International Monetary Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the ambassadors in Ukraine representing the G7 nations.