KYIV, Sept 26 – The participants of the “Stock Market 2000” international conference in Foros (the Crimea) believe that if the Ukrainian government does not begin to stimulate the domestic securities market, trading in the shares of the most attractive enterprises will move beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian News reported.
According to the statement, this danger is raised by the fact that the Ukrainian stock market’s parameters are smaller than the markets in Ukraine’s bordering countries.
To prevent shares in the most attractive enterprises from moving abroad, the conference participants have requested that a system of tax privileges be created to stimulate the development of the stock market, and ensure that securities in strategically important enterprises circulate on organized markets.
The conference participants also proposed transferring the securities of enterprises with strategic importance for the economy and security of the state into non-documentary form, and ensuring the transparency of procedures during the preparation of normative acts regulating the stock market.
The Concept for the development of the stock market in Ukraine was confirmed by Parliament in 1995, and in the opinion of experts, does not meet contemporary requirements.
The Third International Conference “Stock Market 2000: Point of Growth for Ukraine” took place in Foros from September 21-24 under the aegis of the PFTS, Ukraine’s leading electronic securities trading system.
Over 130 representatives of securities traders, registrars, international financial institutes, and state bodies of executive power participated in the conference.
In related news, Ukraine plans to appeal to top world rating agencies to ask that they conduct an investigation and change Ukraine’s securities’ rating, Ukraine’s Finance Minister, Ihor Mitiukov, said after meetings with representatives of leading rating agencies “Standard & Poor’s” and “Fitch IBCA” in Prague, Ukrainian Financial Server reported.
Mitiukov said that Ukraine’s securities’ rating needs to be changed based on what he said were the positive changes which have taken place in the country’s economy.
“We can state clearly now that interest in Ukraine as a partner in the crediting, privatization and investment spheres has been renewed,” Mitiukov said, according to the report.
S&P itself points to the decreasing number of defaults on sovereign bonds and bank loans, The Financial Times reported.
According to the S&P, this reflects favorable financial conditions in the emerging markets and the increasing completion of sovereign debt restructurings, the report said, adding that the S&P predicts that the level of sovereign defaults may fall further in 2001, but noted that Ukraine’s domestic debt was a problem.
As news services reported earlier, Ukraine’s government failed to repay a $13 million Treasury bill which fell due on September 13, although it managed to pay $60 million interest on 2007 Eurobonds, thereby apparently giving preference to foreign investors. News wires reported at the time that the reason for paying the interest on the bonds may have been to impress the International Monetary Fund to bring the loan-hungry country closer to renewed IMF lending under its EFF loan program.
One week following the domestic bond default, Ukraine’s government renewed payments to commercial banks on the t-bills.
