Ukraine’s Central Bank Governor Valeria Gontereva has resigned, an official said yesterday, depriving it of a tough reformer capable of taking on vested interests at a time when the nation is recovering from a steep recession.
Praised by investors and the IMF, Gontareva’s tough anti-crisis measures saw her vilified by some lawmakers and local businesspeople.
A hate campaign against her included a protest in which a coffin was left at her door.
A former investment banker and business partner of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Gontareva took charge nearly three years ago after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and with the nation in the throes of a pro-Russian separatist uprising.
Her departure nearly completes an exodus of reformers who were appointed after Poroshenko’s pro-Western administration took charge following the street protests in Maidan in 2013/2014.
It comes a week after the IMF, which supports Ukraine with a US$17.5 billion bailout package, said that domestic politics could derail crucial reforms such as raising the pension age or lifting a ban on land sales.
Gontareva is to give a news conference at 11am local time.
“Yes, it’s true, she has submitted [her resignation],” the official said, confirming a report by Interfax.
Gontareva introduced sweeping reforms, including shutting down half of Ukraine’s lenders and switching to a flexible exchange rate.
Economic growth is expected to be 2 percent this year, according to the IMF’s forecast.
No successor has been named as of now. The office of Poroshenko, who is responsible for choosing and dismissing the central bank governor, declined immediate comment.
Other reformers who quit or were pushed out include former Ukrainian minister of economy and trade Aivaras Abromavicius, who resigned and accused a close Poroshenko ally of corruption.
Others include the technocratic former minister of finance Natalie Jaresko and the former chief of national police Khatia Dekanoidze.
“The government hasn’t been technocratic for a while since Yatsenyuk, Aivaras Abromavicius, etc left,” London-based Oxford Economics economist for Central and Eastern Europe Evghenia Sleptsova said, referring to former Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
“Ukraine has made a lot of progress on reform, they have done a lot, but in terms of stamping out corruption and vested interests, they are hitting a dead end,” she said.
Gontareva had signaled last month that she would quit after the IMF dispersed its latest tranche of aid.
“Yesterday there was a coffin with my head in it at the main entrance of the central bank,” she told journalists on March 2. “If the whole country sees that as normal, then that’s that.”
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