The role of the central bank in the war: historical aspect

This article examines the role of the central bank in war and the tools it uses to fulfill its function. The purpose of this study is to analyze the peculiarities of the central bank’s functioning in wartime on the example of the State Bank of the USSR during the Second World War. The article also reveals the peculiarities of the financial and legal instruments used by the State Bank of the USSR during the Second World War. From the very beginning of the war, the State Bank’s activities on the territory of the then state were aimed at establishing the military-industrial complex of the state. The main tasks of the State Bank during the war were: obtaining additional resources; expanding lending to the military industry; providing assistance to evacuated enterprises; continuously meeting the needs of the army and the state with money; ensuring prompt regulation of money circulation and stability of the currency. In practical terms, the main focus of the NBU’s activities was to create mechanisms aimed at the fastest possible accumulation of monetary and financial resources within and outside the state, as well as to control the cash money supply. It is established that the activities of the central bank on the territory of modern Ukraine during the existence of the USSR were of great importance for financing the then State during the Second World War. It is established that in its activities the State Bank used both purely administrative methods of attracting financial resources and economic methods. The peculiarities are that administrative methods of regulating the attraction of financial resources were in the nature of totalitarian management practices, and economic methods of management were aimed at ensuring the operation of the planned economy. The combination of these methods enabled the State Bank of the USSR to accumulate significant financial resources in the shortest possible time and ensure uninterrupted financing of the military-industrial and national complex of the State. The conclusions of this study will be useful in solving the problems of the Ukrainian economy, which is suffering from the destructive effects of the war.