Relaxing obligatory sale of currency, revoking ban on buying currency to withdraw dividends to improve business climate - NBU
The top-priority steps to improve business climate in Ukraine is the relaxation of the requirement of obligatory sale of currency and the revoking of the ban on buying foreign currency to withdraw dividends abroad, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has reported on its website.
The NBU said that representatives of the NBU top managers and the Economic Development and Trade Ministry gave their opinion at a meeting held on January 26.
NBU Governor Valeriya Gontareva said at the meeting that these restrictions would be revoked gradually.
"The NBU has drawn up corresponding plan jointly with the IMF that is based on the fulfillment of concrete conditions and it is not pegged to the concrete terms," the press service of the NBU said, citing Gontareva.
She said that the preconditions for revoking currency restrictions is the continuation of cooperation with the IMF, stabilization of the macro-financial situation and growth of forex reserves of the NBU. She also invited representatives of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry to join the working group of the NBU working on the road map of large-scale liberalization of the whole currency regulation system.
The meeting participants also discussed the privatization of state-owned enterprises.
"Our top priority for this year is the launch of the large-scale privatization. This would allow attracting funds from strategic investors to the country and modernize our enterprises. Additionally, from January 1 the free trade area with the EU with all its provisions was launched – and this is not only access to the largest united market in the world for our exporters, but it is a chance to become "a factory of Europe." Thanks to the beneficial conditions for exports to the EU and skilled Ukrainian workers, it is beneficial for European companies to place their production facilities in Ukraine," the NBU said, citing Economic Development and Trade Minister Aivaras Abromavicius.
Representatives of the NBU and Economic Development and Trade Ministry agreed that they would unite efforts and create the required conditions for leading international companies as PayPal online payment system and other companies enter the Ukrainian market. In summer 2015, the NBU amended the procedure for registering payment systems, participants of the payment systems and operators of the payment service infrastructure, relaxing the procedure.