Several candidates to the post of the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) are being considered, and acting NBU governor Yakiv Smolii and Board Chairman of Raiffeisen Bank Aval Volodymyr Lavrenchuk are among them, First Deputy Head of the Petro Poroshenko Block parliamentary faction MP Ihor Kononenko has said.

"As for the National Bank. Consultations are underway. Today there are several candidates. The names that sounds familiar are acting NBU Governor Smolii and Mr. Lavrenchuk," he told reporters in Kyiv on Friday.

Kononenko recalled that the president is holding consultations.

"I hope that by the end of this year the consultations will finish… and the candidate will be announced in the session hall and we will have a chance to vote," he said.

As reported, on April 6, 2017, NBU Governor Valeriya Gontareva sent a letter of resignation to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. She said that she will leave the post from May 10.

According to the law on the NBU the head of the central bank is dismissed by the Verkhovna Rada under a proposal of the president. Gontareva from September 26, 2017 has been on unpaid leave until the president and the Ukrainian parliament make the relevant decision. The NBU governor does not plan to return to work to the central bank.

First Deputy NBU Governor Smolii has been acting NBU Governor since May 11, 2017.