Articles :

Ukraine’s banking system in 2016, the year so dramatic for the sector, has lost 18 financial institutions, while the country’s largest bank, PrivatBank, was transferred to 100% state ownership. Will these measures adopted by the National Bank and the government result in the improvement of the national banking sector, and what should depositors and bankers expect in 2017?

Ukraine in 2016 has seen so many political events, which in normal life would be enough for several years. Moreover, we shouldn’t forget that Ukraine is going through the crisis, the biggest one in its recent history, so the country’s achievements and failures are measured in strategic terms.

In an interview with UNIAN Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy has explained why the Parliament failed to support the introduction of a visa regime with Russia, when the Rada would reform itself and whether we should expect snap elections in 2017.

Zero cubic meters of gas was purchased by Ukraine from Russia, 35 people have been convicted in cases of crimes against Maidan, 36,000 tonnes is the total weight of Chornobyl NPP’s new safe confinement, 3.8 million people in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian assistance due to the Donbas conflict.

The outgoing year broke the trend of all recent years when the economic situation was deteriorating. And although the financial situation of the majority of Ukrainians has not improved, a lot of things done after the Revolution of Dignity are starting bringing effect, so a modest 1.5% GDP growth with a significant drop in inflation allows to count on the acceleration of growth in 2017. UNIAN recalls the main results of 2016.

The Donbas conflict remains an unresolved problem, and tactical successes are not enough to ensure the positive dynamics. The strategy of Crimea and Donbas return has not been revealed to the public and expert community. European vector of Ukraine’s foreign policy received a positive evaluation only for the work in the PACE. The victory of Donald Trump stunned Ukrainian political elite, and it seems it has not yet recovered fully.

The economy of Ukraine, which is gradually getting out of the protracted crisis, in the coming year will show a steady growth amid inflation reduction. Ukraine’s leading analysts interviewed by UNIAN say that strengthening the fight against corruption and attracting investment are the key factors for boosting the economy. Here is the macroeconomic consensus forecast for 2017.

Ukraine welcomes the new year with the state budget adopted. That is, one of the key conditions for continued cooperation with the International Monetary Fund has been met. Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman named the law passed in the year’s longest night the budget of development and growth, while experts deem experimental some of its innovations.

UNIAN offers its exclusive ranking of the most significant events for the national sports in the past year.

In the past year, Ukraine’s agricultural sector has set two historical records. The farmers reported the record grain yield and scheduled record volumes of exports by the end of the marketing year. In an article continuing the review of 2016, UNIAN reports on the other victories of Ukraine’s agribusinesses, the main challenges the industry faced 2016, and forecasts for 2017.

Ukraine has good chances to celebrate the New Year with the budget 2017, approved despite procedural imperfection. PrivatBank was transferred to state ownership, accompanied by an exchange of views on the subject between ex-management and the NBU governor. Another escalation in Donbas does not allow any optimism regarding the prospects for the development of the situation in the east of Ukraine.

On January 1, 2016, Volodymyr Groysman met the New Year as head of Parliament, but as early as April 2016, as a result of political agreements, he took up the post of Ukraine’s prime minister and pledged to "show how the state should be run." UNIAN analyzed the successes and failures of Groysman’s Cabinet and assessed the prospects of his government in 2017.

One diplomat, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov, was shot dead in Ankara; 100% of shares of Privatbank was transferred to state ownership; 274 MPs supported Ukraine’s state budget for 2017.

Vladimir Putin is all into demonstrating how eagerly he has been waiting for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to take up post. U.S. and EU ambassadors to Ukraine gave the country’s diplomats a bit of an important advice on their professional holiday. The Donbas crisis is far from settlement.

The Ukrainian authorities this week took decisions that overshadowed all other economic news of the recent months in terms of their importance. The Verkhovna Rada adopted a budget for 2017, while the Cabinet nationalized the country's largest bank, PrivatBank. The path to further cooperation with the IMF is now open.

Japan is quitting smoking rapidly: for less than two years, 5% of smokers of the "Land of the Rising Sun" gave up smoking cigarettes. UNIAN visited Tokyo to find out why Japanese smokers can get rid of the bad habit smoothly.

Russian lawyer Ivan Pavlov, specializing in "spy cases" the Kremlin has been fabricating, sat down with UNIAN to explain, why the number of citizens of both Ukraine and Russia, persecuted by Putin’s regime for "extremism", "espionage" and "treason" will further be growing.

Ukraine has for several years been struggling to liberate its prisoners from Russian prisons and dark basements in "DPR" and "LPR". The scandal with Nadia Savchenko, who tried to become another "negotiator" in this process, has highlighted the problem. But, unfortunately, it does not solve it.

The renewed Council of the National Bank of Ukraine will meet December 21 to take a key decision within its competence – to approve the next year’s monetary policy principles, which will be crucial for price stability, as well as the stability of the hryvnia and the prospects for economic growth.

Nadia Savchenko has turned from a member of Batkivshchyna faction into a loner MP. PrivatBank has been transferred to state ownership. NABU went public in filing a suspicion against CEC chief Mykhailo Okhendovsky. Oleksandr Turchynov reminded of himself both to his friends and enemies.