By Andrea Shalal and Libby George
WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - Higher oil prices caused by the war in the Middle East https://www.reuters.com/world/iran/ have already boosted prices across Ukraine and could raise inflation rates by 1.5 to 2.8 percentage points, Ukraine's top central banker said on Monday.
National Bank of Ukraine Governor Andriy Pyshnyi said the central bank would stick to its target of driving inflation to 5% in three years, using all available tools to ensure that goal was met.
He welcomed the election results in Hungary, which saw President Viktor Orban nL1N40V01B swept from office, and said he hoped it would resolve delays in the European Union's 90 billion euro ($105.77 billion) loan to Ukraine.
Orban, Hungary's longtime nationalist leader whose party lost Sunday's national election to the upstart centre-right Tisza party, had blocked implementation of the EU loan for Kyiv, citing a dispute over a war-damaged pipeline.Pyshnyi is part of a large Ukrainian delegation attending the spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in hopes of ensuring that Russia's war on Ukraine https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-russia-war/ - now in its fifth year - remains on the agenda, despite the new war in the Middle East.
Pyshnyi said he would meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other top U.S. officials on Wednesday, U.S. lawmakers on Thursday and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday.
The meetings take place after massive Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure that Pyshnyi said would depress growth and increase migration outflows.
($1 = 0.8509 euros)
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Libby George; Editing by Chris Reese)
