Stelmakh covers up bulls and bears, Serhy Lyamets says

“Every week I get phone calls from the NBU. The central bank’s officials accuse me of destabilizing the banking system, notably, the currency market. “If the press wouldn’t give so much ink to the crisis, everything would be OK, they tell me.

Similar statements emanate from many key banking system officials board, including the NBU board chairman Petro Poroshenko and board member Vasyl Horbal. But now I know where the smoking gun is.

“In late October, I kept mum – not a single article on currency markets in the hole week. I really wanted to give the NBU a chance to put its business in order.”

However, instead of harnessing the hryvnia-dollar exchange rate, NBU let it balloon to hryvnia 7.2 per 1 dollar, sending shock waves among Ukrainians.

Following this, let me tackle the issue from a different angle. Yes, the media write about the currency market problems, and this electrifies the populace. But, in the meantime, what are the actions of the NBU? What signals does it send to Ukrainians?

My answer is this: it is the National Bank of Ukraine that provokes panic among Ukrainians and the crisis on the currency market by its actions, or rather the lack of actions. The NBU appeals to Ukrainians not to buy greenbacks while pushing up daily the dollar exchange rate. How the NBU is doing this has been described many times.

Let’s ask ourselves: “Why is the central bank doing this?” The NBU answer comes quick: “Because this is the market.”

Does it mean that we will put the blame for any lack of action on the market?

Question 2: “Who cashes in on the crisis?” According to NBU Governor Volodymyr Stelmakh, it is bears and bulls. “Who are these speculators? If they are owners of street exchange kiosks and underground centers for laundering money, where do they get the money from?”

It follows that the banks are the beneficiaries. And this is no mere rhetoric to smear the reputation of president’s buddy Volodymyr Stelmakh.

It is the banks that sell dollars to exchange kiosks. It is the banks that tell their clients they are short of currency even to repay foreign loans. At the same time, it is the banks that keep foreign currency in their non-cash correspondence accounts. It is the banks that funnel heaps of greenbacks and euros to their cash desks.

Hence, totally different questions come to mind. This one is for Mr Horbal: “Why did Ukrhazbank start selling dollars last week at 7.5 hryvnia? Is it your way to stabilize the currency market?

Mr Poroshenko, why are you keeping mum about the list of banks that are the biggest buyers of dollars from the NBU?

You have pledged publicly that you will get this information from the NBU board. Did you fail? Is everything ok and is there any graft on your turf? If everything at the NBU is in top-notch order, how will you explain sudden interventions and restrictions imposed by the NBU on the sales of currency via auctions?

I also appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office, Vekhovna Rada and the cabinet. Why did none of these structures lift their finger to check the validity of NBU board operations, and I mean to check the board activities, not to ask Stelmakh to explain the situation?

No one seems to care that the dollar costs 7.5 hryvnias, businesses are going bankrupt, and the number of bad credits is piling up.

Of course, most of my questions are for the NBU governor. “Mr Stelmakh, if you know who the bears and bulls are, why are you sitting on your hands? Or, probably, you intend to keep the status quo until 2010 [the year of the next presidential election]. Otherwise, Ukrainians will realize once again that they have been taken for a ride by the regime.”

Most importantly, Mr Stelmakh, why don’t your words tally with what is happening? Why does your deputy Oleksandr Savchenko make promises which are not fulfilled?

Let me now present my vision: judging by their declarations, NBU officials are after stability. In reality, however, their assurances of fighting the crisis are a smokescreen to hide a mechanism of bleeding the NBU of billions of dollars, with a specific group of individuals lining their pockets.

I would like to hear your comments, Mr. Governor.”