12/02/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Ukraine produced a record amount of grain

Ukraine produced a record amount of grain

12.02.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Ukraine produced a record amount of grain.
• Launch of the "energy bridge" to the Crimea with Putin’s participation failed.
• All the KGB archives will be transferred to the Institute of National Remembrance.

Key Events in Ukraine

• Prime Minister Yatsenyuk proposed to lead the state-owned enterprises out of the Ministries governance, and to unite them into seven holding companies, which will be operated by independent managers.
• According to Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, one more source of the replenishment of the budget could be confiscation of UAH 40 billion , belonging to the entourage of former President Yanukovych.
• Head of the SBU Grytsak said that all the archives of the KGB from 1917 to 1991 will be transferred to the Institute of National Remembrance.
• Ukrainian producers threshed a record 60 million tons of grain.
• Centerenergo is awaiting the arrival of the first batch of coal from the South Africa on December 4.
• The National Bank simplified the procedures for opening bank accounts for clients.
• The share of overdue debt to the banks in November rose by 2.5% - to 20.4%. The assets of the operating banks  in the past month increased by UAH 37 billion mainly due to the exchange rate differences.
• The NBU slightly increased the official hryvnia exchange rate and bought at the interbank market $ 9 million. The official exchange rate of hryvnia: 23,65 ₴ / $ (+0,19 UAH), 25,09 ₴ / € (-0,16 UAH), 3,54 ₴ / 10 ₽ (-0,06 UAH).

Ukraine at War

• The militants do not stop shellings of the Ukrainian positions in the surroundings of Donetsk and Artemovsk. According to official reports, one soldier was killed, three were wounded.
• A trial launch of the "energy bridge" to the Crimea with participation of Russian President Putin was unsuccessful. Setting into operation of the underwater line was announced for December 5-6. Putin announced that the second stage will be commissioned in 2016. The existing capacity is not enough to cover the needs of the peninsula in electricity, but it will reduce social tensions.

Ukraine and the World

• US Vice President Biden will speak in the Parliament on 9 December.
• The next round of the tripartite talks with the EU and Russia regarding the implementation of a free trade zone ended without result. President Poroshenko said that Ukraine will not respond to Russia’s blackmail  to postpone the introduction of European standards, and the free trade zone will start operating from January 1, 2016.
• European diplomats say that in the EU there is general agreement to prolong the sanctions against Russia for another six months.
• The British Parliament voted to conduct aviation operations against the Islamic state in Syria.
• Russia accused Turkey of illegal purchases of  oil from the Islamic state. The country's leadership and the West called such charges nonsense. Russia does not allow the trucks carrying Turkish goods to cross the border without explanation . Turkish President Erdogan threatened to introduce the  retaliation measures against Russia if it continues to lead the policy of confrontation and said that his country has alternative options to obtain the energy resources.
• Ukraine is ready to increase the supplies of the agricultural products to Turkey by two or three times to ensure its food security.
• Montenegro received an official invitation to join the NATO. This is the first expansion of the Alliance since 2009, when Albania and Croatia became its members . Russia considered the decision an unfriendly step, which could lead to the destabilization of the Euro-Atlantic security.
• NATO chief Stoltenberg said the Alliance will continue to provide Ukraine with the political and practical support, and some countries announced about increase in funding of trust funds.
• Oil prices fell to the lowest level in 10 years - to $ 42.5 per barrel.

The Trends

• Leader of the Poroshenko Blok in the Parliament,  Lutsenko said that the deputies of the faction will not vote for the Government draft of the Tax Code and will support the parliamentary project. Deputies of the Popular Front faction claim that the Parliament is obliged to vote for the proposed projects, since state and local budgets, and the Tax Code were coordinated, and introduction of changes will lead to imbalance of costs and revenues, which could result in cancellation of the IMF crediting. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk is not satisfied with the low activity of deputies during  discussing of the draft budget. According to observers, this is evidence of a serious struggle in the upper echelons of power, including those close to President Poroshenko.
• At a meeting of the NBU with the leaders of  40 largest banks, Deputy Head of the regulator Pisaruk said that banks began to actively cash the foreign currency funds. Experts believe that this is a normal reaction to a rigid policy of the NBU, when many customers are not able to buy the necessary funds on the interbank foreign exchange market. The NBU threatened to conduct audits in the banks, if the trend continues.