27 January 2017, Friday, 16:45 138

NBU Council Chair Danylyshyn: Inflation Targeting Will Not Guarantee Economic Growth

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The Chairman of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine Bohdan Danylyshyn says achieving the goal of holding the inflation within the target index will not guarantee the economic growth in Ukraine.

NBU Council Chairman Danylyshyn gave the position in an interview for Ukrainian News Agency.

"We in the NBU Council acknowledge that holding the inflation within the declared targets will not, regrettably, guarantee sustainable economic growth in Ukraine, as Ukrainian economy remains a resource-based economy depending on foreign environment. Overcoming this ill-natured dependency requires support to the efforts of the National Bank of Ukraine in kind of proper structure policy of the Government," Danylyshyn said.

The NBU Council Chairman notes that the NBU Board has successes in curbing the prices. The Ukrainian inflation in 2016 decreased to 12.4%.

He says the inflation targets for 2017 and following years are realistic.

"Firstly, the inflation targets are seen as the goal not only by the National Bank of Ukraine, but by the government also. This is a guarantee of success. Secondly, the inflation targets find consensus among experts too," he said.

He says the inflation targeting cannot be a goal in itself in the economic policies, as holding inflation is just a way to improve the life of the population.

"Thus, it is necessary to achieve price and financial stability on the one hand, and facilitate the economic growth on the other hand," he said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in November and December 2016 there were debates in mass media among members of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine regarding expediency of the current policy of the NBU Board on inflation targeting.

The National Bank of Ukraine has improved its GDP growth forecast for 2017 from 2.5% to 2.8% and has worsened its inflation forecast for 2017 from 8% to 9.1%.