KIEV, Sept. 9 – The National Bank of Ukraine expects to be able to gradually lift currency restrictions earlier than planned, NBU Deputy Governor Dmytro Solohub said.

"We have the plan on lifting restrictions. It is not a calendar plan anymore, but it focuses on the conditions… The message I'm bringing is that the resolution was passed on July 3, then it was changed on September and this does not mean that we will wait until December 3 to lift [the restrictions] if we see an opportunity for lifting them," he said at the UA SME Banking Conference held in Kiev on September 7 and September 8.

Solohub said that it is easy to introduce currency restrictions but it is hard to lift them, giving Iceland as an example, where it took seven years to lift currency restrictions.