The World Bank has recommended that Ukraine strengthen the independence of the National Bank of Ukraine.

Martin Raiser, a senior economic advisor at the World Bank's office for Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova, announced this in an interview with the Dzerkalo Tyzhnia newspaper.

"Under no circumstances should Ukraine make the mistake of attempting to reduce the independence of the central bank," Raiser said.

Raiser was expressing the position of the World Bank regarding the legislative initiative aimed at subordinating the National Bank of Ukraine to the Cabinet of Ministers in the area of currency policies.

"That would be an erroneous and extremely harmful decision that would send a negative signal to investors and the entire world," Raiser said.

According to him, currency policies should be implemented exclusively by independent central banks that are not subject to political influences.

To back up his position, Raiser cited the experiences of the world's most successful economies with stable currencies.

"Practically everywhere, central banks such as the Federal Reserve in the United States, the European Central Bank in the euro zone, the Bank of England, or the Bank of Switzerland have huge immunity against political influence. These countries are, in our view, excellent examples that Ukraine should not only support, but also continue to strengthen the independence of the National Bank," Raiser said.

Moreover, he said that it was extremely untimely to initiate such a debate in Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, parliamentary deputies Syvulskyi, Liashko, and Shlemko have proposed that the parliament transfer the right to formulate currency policy from the National Bank of Ukraine to the Cabinet of Ministers.

The draft law proposed by these parliamentary deputies was registered as No. 2520 in the parliament on May 20.