The threat of a return of PrivatBank to its former owners and an end to the independence of the central bank were the two main worries of the IMF team

The threat of a return of PrivatBank to its former owners and an end to the independence of the central bank were the two main worries of the IMF team which left Friday without reaching a staff agreement on a new program. “PrivatBank and NBU independence,” Kateryna Roshkova, deputy governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, told reporters Friday at ICU’s Ukrainian Financial Forum. Noting that the IMF had 37 meetings with the central bank during two weeks, she said their concern over “liquidated banks applies not only to PrivatBank, but also to other large bankrupt banks, whose owners have big issues with the state.”