ECONOMY
Citing positive macroeconomic trends, Finance Minister Ihor Mityukov expressed his belief that the International Monetary Fund would resume lending to Ukraine despite the looming ouster of reformist Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko. Mityukov said that, by the middle of May, two decisions had to be taken by the government – one on tax policy and the other on banking reform.
Mityukov said that first-quarter economic data indicated that the country’s gross domestic product could grow 6 percent in 2001 against a previous forecast of 4 percent to 5 percent. Yushchenko said earlier that the government would revise upward its forecast for GDP growth to between 6 percent and 8 percent. Mityukov also said that the Finance Ministry is discussing a plan to reduce consumer price inflation this year to less than 10 percent.
BANKING
National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Volodymyr Stelmakh said that he has no confidence in the investment group that has proposed to improve the financial health of Bank Ukraina. Stelmakh complained that the Business Partners investment group is unknown, won’t disclose the names of its principals, cannot guarantee it has the money it promised to invest in Ukraina Bank, and has failed to provide the first promised installment of its investment.
The Fund for Guaranteeing Private Deposits resumed payments to Sloviansky bank’s depositors, after Kyiv’s Pechersk district court decided on April 12 to reverse its suspension of implementation of the National Bank of Ukraine’s order on liquidation of the bank. The fund aims to complete all outstanding payments before April 27.
Europay International forecasts that the number of Visa and Europay payment cards in use in Ukraine will increase to 1.5 million before the end of this year. The number of international payment cards in Ukraine has doubled in each of the past two years.
ENERGY
Kyiv’s Starokyivsky district court dismissed a lawsuit in which shareholders in Luhanskoblenergo, a privatized regional electricity supplier, shareholders asked the court to invalidate the forced sale of the power company’s electricity grid. The grid was sold at a huge discount to Ukrsotsbank in March as part of a forced bankruptcy engineered by Energorynok, the state company that controls payments among electricity companies, and sanctioned by the High Arbitration Court.
AEROSPACE
The new An-74TK-300 airplane successfully made its first test flight in Kharkiv, watched by aircraft designers and President Leonid Kuchma. The plane, which can carry both passengers and cargo, is a modification of the old An-74TK-200, devised jointly by the Kharkiv state aviation plant, the Antonov aviation design bureau of Kyiv, Zaporizhya’s Motor-Sych plant and the Progress design bureau.
AGRICULTURE
The Cabinet authorized the importation of 540,000 tons of grain, deferring a 40-euro-per-ton import duty. Since the beginning of the year, grain traders were pushing for the privileged import of 700,000 tons of food grain, saying imports are needed to maintain prices at current levels.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Ukraine’s leading brewer, Obolon, said it was stepping up its drive to export beer to Russia. Despite competition from a large number of Russian producers and a premium price, Russians like Ukrainian suds: Obolon exported 15 percent of its total beer production, mainly to Russia, during the first quarter of this year.
Sun Interbrew started production of Stella Artois beer, its best-known international brand, at its Chernihiv-based Desna brewery. The company said that production of the Stella Artois brand started earlier than planned because production and quality-control systems had been installed.
MANUFACTURING
Canada imposed an anti-dumping duty of 96 percent duty on hot-rolled steel sheet and strip from Ukraine. Canada said all of the hot-rolled steel sheet and strip it imported from Ukraine between January and September 2000 was imported at dumping prices. Ukraine says it did not export steel to Canada during that period.
Switzerland’s Wicor Holding AG, which holds a 65 percent stake in the Malyn paper mill, is buying shares from individual shareholders to increase its stake in the mill to 75 percent. State-owned Ukrbumprom holding company holds the other 25 percent stake.
Japan’s JPI corporation completed a two-year, $5 million modernization of the Kremenchuk tobacco factory. Twelve new production lines have been opened. JPI also modernized the factory’s warehouses, built a quality-control lab, computerized the factory’s production processes, and created independent steam and power generators.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Utel, a long distance telephone operator, announced it had acquired a government license to provide local telephone service. The company said it will develop local networks, replacing Ukrtelekom’s aging local network analog equipment with digital networks. Utel said corporate clients are abandoning Ukrtelekom because of the comparatively low quality provided over the state phone company’s analog network.
