Yushchenko supported renaming the kopiika to the shag: “This will complete the monetary reform conceived in the 90s”
13 September 2024 09:16
The third President of Ukraine and former head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, has supported the initiative to rename the kopiyka coin to its historical name, the shag. During a meeting with current NBU Governor Andriy Pyshny, he stressed that this step is important for completing the monetary reform launched in the 1990s. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" reports with reference to NV.
Yushchenko called the idea “fantastic”, noting that in his time there was not enough political will to finalise the reform.
“It is a fantastic idea. That is, to finalise the monetary reform as it was conceived in the 1990s. But then there was a lack of political will. Back then, in the parliament that was elected in Soviet Ukraine, of course, the topic of the anthem, coat of arms, hryvnia, flag was very painful. And when we came to the issue of change, the parliament said: let’s not bother, there is a kopeck, people are used to it,”
– he said.
Follow us on Telegram: the main news in a nutshell
As it turned out, Ukraine was not just one step away from the “step”, but even minted a batch of coins with this name, said Pyshny, the current head of the NBU, in response. It didn’t work out then, but now the NBU is determined to implement this decolonising measure. Traditionally, Viktor Yushchenko gave a historical context.
“Our leaders 100 years ago said: away from Moscow. That is your danger. And when we come to the monetary sphere, and this attribute remains, then we have a question: how did it happen that one of the national symbols remains as a marker of Russia?”
– the former NBU governor added.
At the same time, the third president does not even consider it important that change coins are almost out of circulation. The main thing here is symbolism.
“I am convinced that the time is not far off when we will come to the point where coins will be conditional in the monetary accounting system. These are conditional values. But the main thing here is what category we use, if it has national roots, it rather indicates that you are an established nation,”
– said the third president.
Earlier, in response to a query 
The NBU explained how it will create new “shahs” instead of “kopiykas”.
Read more about the history of hryvnia in the article “Hryvnia” instead of “kopek”: is it time for a change?
Follow us on Telegram: the main news in a nutshell
