The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) will promptly fulfill the structural benchmark of the cooperation program with the IMF by developing a strategy for currency liberalization and gradual abandonment of administrative restrictions by the end of June 2023, but, a real transition to such is not yet a matter of the near future, Governor of the NBU Andriy Pyshnyy has said.

"Today the market is balanced solely by the presence of the National Bank, the problem of unprecedented balances on current accounts remains relevant. We are working on this, we see changes, but it is too early to talk about the results. Accordingly, the transition to greater flexibility in this aspect is not a matter of the near future," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine in Washington.

Pyshnyy said that in the work on the liberalization strategy, the National Bank deliberately does not say when the revision will take place.

"It is not the date that determines the abandonment of administrative restrictions. Everything depends on the formation of the necessary prerequisites. And in this matter, we openly communicate what prerequisites make it possible to talk about the introduction of a floating exchange rate and a return to the free movement of capital," he said.

The governor of the National Bank said that these prerequisites provide for the binding of the liquidity surplus that has arisen now, which is unevenly distributed and is mainly on demand accounts.

"In the transition to a gradual reduction of administrative restrictions, and also before the introduction of flexible exchange rate elements, we must understand that this liquidity overhang will not hinder exchange rate stability," he said.