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The ministers and the experts shared with UNIAN their opinions on the measures to be taken to restore the economy of Ukraine in 2016.

The Association Agreement with the EU, signed in June 2014, has finally entered into force, and the deep and comprehensive free trade are between Ukraine and the EU came into effect on January 1. Ukraine’s new strategic choice promises countless opportunities as well as huge challenges to the Ukrainian economy.

Amid war with Russia, Ukraine has for the first time ever adopted a decent defense budget. Instead of selling out the remnants of Soviet equipment, the Ukrainian defense industry got on tracks of modernization and development of new types of weapons. However, corruption and bureaucracy continue to hinder the development of defense industry and creation of an efficient army.

The Ukrainian economy may return to the path of growth in the coming year after a two-year fall, the Ukrainian analysts believe. UNIAN offers to take a glimpse at the macroeconomic consensus forecast for 2016.

The sharp jumps of the dollar, unprecedented drought and African swine fever – this is not a complete list of problems faced by Ukrainian farmers in the past year. Opening a series of articles on the year’s results and forecasts for 2016, UNIAN examined, whether the situation would improve the next year and what it will depend on.

The Ukrainian government and the Rada have not yet found a compromise on the budget and tax reform; the IMF responded with the threat to stop lending to Ukraine; the return of "Yanukovych’s debt” is postponed; and the occupied Crimea remains without Ukrainian goods - these are the key economic news of the past week.

The Ukrainian Cabinet reported on its results over the past year and agreed on the draft budget for 2016, as well as the principles of tax reform; the State Statistics Service said the inflation has returned; U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Kyiv, announcing allocation of $190 million for Ukraine and giving the Ukrainian authorities some good advice.

PM Yatsenyuk requested the European Commission to block the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project as “anti-European and anti-Ukrainian.” Both the U.S. and EU support Ukraine’s position, as well as several EU member states. The EC claim that Moscow’s idea will be strictly checked for compliance with European legislation.

The Cabinet has presented the main parameters of the state budget for 2016 and the draft tax reform. At the moment, both documents are herded into "Procrustean bed" of Parliament and Presidential Administration, and it is difficult to predict how their discussion will end. Meanwhile, Turkey is stepping up its cooperation with Ukraine in the background of the Kremlin's belligerent stance.

No electric vehicles are sold in Ukraine officially at the moment. Some several hundred electric vehicles out there on the Ukrainian highways have either been imported by enthusiasts, or purchased from the so-called "gray" importers.  Only one thing can revive the market -- complete lifting of duties on this type of vehicles.

Ukraine, with the hands of civil society activists, cut off electricity supplies from mainland Ukraine to the Russian-occupied Crimea; announced a temporary suspension of purchases of the Russian gas; and shut the its airspace for transit aircraft of its northern neighbor; while the hryvnia seems to have found a delicate balance after some turbulence – these are the main economic news of the past week.

The six-month calm in the currency market is shaken. NBU intervenes slightly but regularly now on the interbank market to support the hryvnia, insisting that there is no reason to panic. Experts hint that the situation is caused by the delayed adoption of the 2016 State Budget and the uncertainty whether the country gets another tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). UNIAN gathered expert opinions on what the hryvnia exchange rate will be by the New Year.

The Verkhovna Rada extended the "land" moratorium, but failed to convince the Cabinet to reduce the tariffs for the population; a hot discussion over tax reform and Budget-2016; as well as Ukraine’s distinguished visitors – these are the main economic news of the past week.

The Ukrainian economy has been falling into the abyss of a second consecutive year, and it seems, it has finally reached its bottom. The Cabinet says that the worst period is behind, while there’s growth ahead. The experts are less optimistic. They believe that, without creating prerequisites for the economic recovery, the economy may remain at the bottom for several years.

In Ukraine, 60% of electricity is generated by nuclear power plants, and the country is completely dependent on imports of nuclear fuel. Attempts to set up own production together with Russia have failed. Director of the State Concern Nuclear Fuel Serhiy Drobot has told UNIAN why it happened and whether it is profitable for Ukraine to implement this project on its own.

European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström has told UNIAN ahead of her visit to Ukraine about the advantages of DCFTA for the Ukrainians and Europe’s planned actions toward Russia given it pursues with implementing new sanctions against Ukraine due to DCFTA coming into force.

Postponement of IMF mission’s visit to Ukraine, growth of the country’s GDP and forex reserves, continuing gas confrontation with Russia and the new Labor Code - these are the main economic news of the past week.

Ukraine is expanding cooperation with the world’s biggest nuclear fuel producer, Westinghouse. President and CEO of the U.S. industry giant, Danny Roderick, has told UNIAN, what opportunities he sees in the Ukrainian market, whether his company may substitute the Russians in Ukraine, and whether there is any sense in completing construction of the new power units at the nuclear power stations, and a plant for production of nuclear fuel.

When the “Crimea blockade” started on September 20, skeptics predicted it would not live long. A month later, in late October, an UNIAN correspondent visited the roadblocks at the administrative border and found out that the activists are preparing for the winter despite everything, and do not intend to give up.

Russia is going to introduce an embargo on the majority of Ukrainian goods in response to the Association Agreement with the EU coming into effect. Ukraine’s Trade Representative, Natalia Mykolska, has told UNIAN, how the country can compensate for these losses and what markets are willing to open up to our exporters.