Articles :

IMF’s technical mission is expected to arrive in Kyiv on Feb 12, Naftogaz reported it would soon start purchasing gas from Gazprom, the Verkhovna Rada resumed its work after the New Year holidays, adopting a number of important laws, while the hryvnia rate pleased with the latest strengthening - these are the main economic developments of the outgoing week.

Following a long saga of scandals, the government finally fired head of the Fiscal Service Roman Nasirov. Mobile operators paid UAH 2.5 billion for 4G licenses. The inflow of foreign currency to Ukraine exceeded the outflow. That’s what made the main news this week.

In an interview with UNIAN, Chairman of the British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, Bate Toms, spoke about the factors, besides general corruption, scaring off investors, and on how the problem could be tackled. He also named the areas of Ukrainian economy most attractive to foreign investment and talked about the aspects Ukraine should focus on when cooperating with Britain following Brexit.

Last week, President Petro Poroshenko led a delegation of Ukrainian officials to the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he persuaded IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and potential investors in the country’s readiness to continue reforms and fulfill conditions for receiving another tranche of the loan, the National Bank improved its outlook for economic growth for 2018, at the same time pumping up its key rate aiming to tackle inflation, while Naftogaz in an attempt to push the government to accelerate the gas market reform, requested a UAH 110 bln compensation from the budget.

Naftogaz confirmed the intention to resume gas imports from Russia, the president finally found a replacement for Valeriya Gontareva at the post of the country's chief banker, the parliament passed a law on privatization barring Russians from purchasing Ukrainian state property, while the IMF criticized pension reform - these are the main economic developments of the outgoing week.

The Ukrainian hryvnia continues to plunge, approaching the historical minimum of UAH 30 to the U.S. dollar. The National Bank considers this New Year's turbulence a seasonal symptom, with which experts agree, predicting the strengthening of the national currency. And the only question is how soon this will happen.

The State Statistics Service reported on a higher inflation rate in 2017, the hryvnia continued its descending path, while the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel jumped against the background of rising global oil prices, and the government at its first meeting this year announced an increase in teachers' salaries - these are the main economic news of the year’s second week.

As early as in the first quarter of 2018, Ukrtelecom may be re-privatized. However, it will be a Pyrrhic victory for the country as the government will have to pay a huge compensation to the current owner of fixed-line communication monopoly, Rinat Akhmetov. At the same time, the company will return to the state ownership as a robbed bankrupt: today we are seeing a full-blown sale ongoing of the company’s valuable assets.

Ukraine in 2017 was learning to live without Donbas anthracite, continued construction within the Chornobyl disaster zone, engaged on renewables, and also argued about the impact of the "Rotterdam +" pricing formula on the cost of electricity. In 2018, we should expect some new series in a thriller starring Ukraine’s energy sector and a fierce struggle around the creation of a new electricity market.

The Ukrainian President assured that the worst days for the Ukrainian economy are already behind, the world’s major port operator, UAE-based DP World, has entered the Ukrainian market, while the oil and gas sector boasted their record results - these are the main economic news of the first week of 2018.

In 2017, the National Bank of Ukraine was beheaded and waved goodbye to a dozen financial institutions, while the hryvnia stepped on the same rake again. But all this did not halt the country’s movement along the path of liberalization of the financial market and overall banking revival.

Large-scale road construction, record results by ports and airports, and the emergence of discount air carriers – these are the main success stories in the transportation industry in 2017, which cannot be overshadowed even by that Ryanair row and corruption corroding Ukrzaliznytsia [Ukrainian Railways]. Although resolving these issues, as well as setting new records in the sky, on land and water will be the main challenges for the Ukrainian government this year.

Many Ukrainians will remember 2017 by another attempt of the country’s authorities to raise gas tariffs, adding a monthly fee to its cost, as well as by a rise in gasoline prices. But among all these mishaps, there were some undoubted victories such as Ukraine’s own gas extraction boost and Naftogaz’s historic victory in the Stockholm Arbitration over Gazprom, the Kremlin’s major blackmail tool.

In 2018, the Ukrainian economy will see growth for the third consecutive year after the fall in 2014-2015. A number of leading experts polled by UNIAN say they expect that positive dynamics will be achieved in all major macroeconomic indicators, while the key factors in accelerating growth will be strengthening of the fight against corruption and attracting investment. Here is a macroeconomic consensus forecast for 2018.

In the outgoing year, the economic situation in Ukraine continued to improve. And although the growth rates corresponded to the "swiftness" of reforms and remained modest last year, the government managed to maintain macro-financial stability and conquer some important foreign economic bridgeheads, which allows Ukraine counting on acceleration next year.

Ukraine’s agrarian sector saw plenty of contrasts this year. Despite a good harvest of cereals, an export boost, and revival of livestock farming, unpredictable tax policy, imperfect mechanism of state support, and reduction of profitability of crop production remain a significant problem.

The year of 2017 was filled with surprises and unrest in the global economy. It will be remembered for the escalation of many threats that we can encounter in 2018. This is the first year in office of a status-quo breaker Donald Trump, the year of an active phase of Brexit negotiations as EU remains full of contradictions and unresolved issues, the year of rising prices for oil and raw materials, and the year of striking innovation breakthroughs and stunning human greed that has affected the inflation of a crypto-currency bubble. In the era of globalization, large-scale events, one way or another, affect all corners of the planet. Ukraine was not an exception and will not be an exception in the future. UNIAN recalled the key moments of the outgoing year in global economic life and made an attempt to take a sneak peek into 2018.

The government canceled more than 300 regulatory acts to facilitate doing business, while the prime minister called on representatives of fiscal bodies who disagree with such a "philosophy" to resign; the National Bank tames the hryvnia with market methods; and the Stockholm Arbitration has announced its final decision on the mutual claims of Naftogaz and Gazprom regarding the contract for the purchase of gas in favor of the Ukrainian side - these are this week’s main economic news.

Ukraine should in the near future resolve the issue of setting up a consortium for managing its gas transmission system; otherwise, its pipelines will turn into scrap by 2020. The action plan has long been developed but the conflict between the government and Naftohaz hinders its implementation. Experts warn that if they do not stop pulling a blanket, it is Russia who will win.

The Ministry of Infrastructure said a national low-cost air carrier would launch operations soon, the European Union postponed its next EUR 600 million tranche of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine, the National Bank warned that the inflation rate by year-end and in 2018 may turn out to be higher than expected, while the hryvnia once again feels tipsy - these are the week’s main economic news.