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Ukraine for the first time in fifteen years issued euro-denominated bonds, the State Statistics Service reported accelerating inflation, the Cabinet approved Ukrzaliznytsia's development strategy until 2023, and the Constitutional Court caused a storm with its decision to recognize unconstitutional a number of provisions of the law on the energy regulator – these are economic news of the past week.

The Ministry of Finance is going to borrow in the foreign market, again. They have announced the next issue of Eurobonds. No specifics have been revealed yet about its parameters. Details are being discussed with Ukraine's Western partners. But the main thing is that our country will get into more debts to settle on the previous ones worth billions.

Another conflict has erupted between the Cabinet and Naftogaz. This time it broke out against the background of the purchase of gas for the passage of the future heating season, taking into account the risk of a halt to the transit of Russian gas from January 1, 2020. Naftogaz said it had no money for these purposes. In turn, the government believes that the issue of the shortage of funds should be resolved by Naftogaz's "creative" management, which over the past three years has increased tenfold the expenditures on the company's management.

The government has passed a resolution that would retain electricity prices for the households at their current level until the end of 2020, and obliged Naftogaz to reduce by UAH 800–900 the cost of natural gas, while the National Bank ruled to keep the key policy rate unchanged to prevent inflation risks. These are this week's major economic developments in Ukraine.

Valeriy Makovetskiy and Gennady Vykhodtsev are co-founders and leaders of the Foxtrot Group of Companies who have not only created a brand with a 25-year history, but have also set the example to Ukrainian businesses as a responsible taxpayer.

Naftogaz has planned to pump additional gas volumes into underground storage facilities by the heating season, 3 billion cubic meters more than usual. This will be a kind of insurance if Gazprom from January 1, 2020, blocks the transit through our territory. But are there enough stocks and how can we pay for them?

Naftogaz of Ukraine has opened a new front in its battle against Russian Gazprom, the National Bank raised the bar for the withdrawal of dividends by foreign investors, while the Cabinet of Ministers appointed a new head of the Tax Service – these are the main economic news of the outgoing week.

Last year, Ukrainian producers exported agrarian products worth a record $19 billion. And although the lion's share of the supply remains raw export, domestic ready-made food products can already be found on the shelves of foreign retail chains. But for Ukraine to obtain the prestigious status of a "global supermarket," farmers and the government still have a lot of work to do.

Naftogaz of Ukraine, at the government insistence, reduced by 3.5% gas tariffs for households; the new law on housing and utility services tightened sanctions against those failing to pay utility bills; while the country's defense industry boasted of success reached in international cooperation – these are the main economic news of the outgoing week.

President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky through his advisors told about his vision of economic policy; businesses and investors voiced their expectations from the new head of state; Deputy Finance Minister Serhiy Verlanov won the competition for the position of head of the Tax Service; the State Statistics Service reported growth in industrial output n in March; while the NBU, for the first time in the last two years, lowered its key rate and improved a number of macroeconomic forecasts – these are the main economic developments of the outgoing week.

The Ukrainian hryvnia responded to the completion of the presidential election by slightly sliding down. But there is one more political battle ahead – parliamentary elections. In addition, due to a number of reasons, continued cooperation with the main creditor - the International Monetary Fund – could become an issue. UNIAN figured out what to expect from the national currency this year.

Ukrainians have chosen their new president, the 41-year-old showman and actor Volodymyr Zelensky. According to the Constitution, the head of state does not directly oversee economic processes, but his policies should be in tune with the steps of the executive and legislative branches to address key economic problems. After polling a number of experts, UNIAN made an outline of the economic agenda of the new president.

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman threatened with dismissing CEO Naftogaz, Andriy Kobolyev, if the company fails to reduce gas prices for the households before April 24; Ukrnafta won a court dispute with Russia to recover compensation for assets in the occupied Crimea; and the District Administrative Court of Kyiv recognized the illegal decision to nationalize PrivatBank – these are the main economic news of the last week.

The State Statistics Service reported on a slower pace of inflation, Ukraine's key creditor, the International Monetary Fund, released its forecast of the country's economy prospects, while the government introduced another set of sanctions against the aggressor state, Russia – these are the main economic news of the outgoing week.

Ukraine lost a “transit” dispute with Russia within the World Trade Organization. The WTO rejected the claims of our country, although the actions of the Kremlin practically deprived Ukraine of direct trade links with Central Asia. The fiasco in trade disputes is the third in a row for us. Why is this happening and is it possible to fix the situation?

As the country's financial markets retained their calm following the first round of presidential elections experts expect this trend to prevail with any outcome of the runoff; the Cabinet of Ministers instructed Naftogaz to reduce the gas price for the households, while the National Bank promised another wave of forex liberalization - these are the main economic developments of the outgoing week.

The Cabinet of Ministers made another step to simplify the conditions for doing business in Ukraine, the Energy Efficiency Fund started financing its first projects, while experts talked about the possible influence of presidential elections on the Ukrainian financial market – these are the main economic news of the outgoing week.

After a short delay, the Cabinet of Ministers extended for another year the contract with Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev and launched the search for the heads of the tax and customs agencies, the president issued a decree expanding the sanctions package against the aggressor state, Russia, while the State Statistics Service pleased Ukrainians with the data on economic growth in 2018 – these are the main economic news of the outgoing week.

The IMF mission left Ukraine "quietly" - without official statements about future cooperation. At stake are two tranches that are very important given the repayment of billions of dollars in debts scheduled for this year. The National Bank and the Ministry of Finance say there is no need to worry – everything goes according to schedule. Experts are less optimistic – the inflows may be delayed, which means that pressure on the hryvnia exchange rate is inevitable.

The mission of the International Monetary Fund completed its work in Kyiv, the National Bank once again did not dare to lower its key rate, while the government continued to raise social standards and take new loans ahead of the elections – these are the key economic news of the outgoing week.