RusUkroEnergo stays in the news
"We'll summon everybody who one way or another is involved in this case, despite his or her former official posts in the government and other agencies, because huge financial losses were caused to the state," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday. Khoroshkovsky said that this "trap for the Ukrainian state" had been created deliberately.
Thats the head of the SBU, Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, whose investigating the Tymoshenko’s governments actions during last year’s gas dispute with Gazprom/Russia. RusUkroEnergo is still in the news, a year after the Tymoshenko tried to remove it as a gas middleman. The former head of customs, Anatoly Makarenko, has been detained by the SBU. Meanwile, a Stockholm arbitration tribunal decided in favor of RusUkroEnergo, claiming that Ukrainian state (Naftogaz, actually) must compensate the firm for breaking its agreement with RusUkroEnergo. The decision requires that Naftogaz return 12.1 billion cubic meters of gas, plus an earlier decision requires financial compensation of $200 milllion . The head of the presidential administration, Sergey Levochkin, has already ruled out compensating the company in money or gas. Tymoshenko defended her government’s actions.
Channel 5: More proof that freedom can be rolled back
Mr Khoroskhovsky wasted little time and launched an investigation demanding documents from the regulator about the tender. Inter then asked the court to cancel the results of an earlier tender and the court obliged, citing irregularities in the earlier tender. As a result TVi will remain a satellite channel with little coverage in Ukraine, and Channel 5, whose licence allows it to be mainly about entertainment, may not be able to retain its news programmes.The Economist writes on the move by regulators to take away broadcasting frequencies from Channel 5 and TVi. An earlier Ukrainska Pravda article reported on a letter sent to President Yanukovych from the Channel Five editorial board essential asking Yanukovych to halt Khoroskhovsky. Now, Yanukovych slipped up during the presidential campaign and expressed what he actually thought about media freedom. This move fits in with his comments that freedom of speech was costly for the Ukrainian people (meaning Regions-leaning oligarchs).
IMF comments on Ukraine's external debt
Thomsen noted that Ukraine's external debt now stands at 40% of GDP and this could severely affect the country's economy, the press service of the Verkhovna Rada reported.
In turn, Lytvyn noted that the Ukrainian leadership is aware of this problem, stressing that any steps taken in the economic sector should have the support of the population.
"Realizing that not all the decisions will be painless, we must work as openly as possible, otherwise we will not be able to achieve a normal path of development," he said.
From Interfax-UA, the IMF and Ukraine are in talks on resuming lending to the county.
Politics: A milestone
On June 2nd the government announced a programme of economic reforms which Mr Yanukovich says will turn Ukraine into one of the world’s 20 most developed countries in ten years. They include gas-price rises and an overhaul of the pension system. The main question is whether Mr Yanukovich can find the will to carry through reforms that could make him unpopular.
More at The Economist on the first hundred days of the Yanukovych presidency. As the article notes, his biggest challenge is the economy, but his goal of transforming Ukraine into one of top developed countries sounds far-fetched.Since the economic crisis, some economic data
"We will reduce the budget deficit and stabilize the public debt, weakening the tax burden and extending the tax base. We will reduce inflation, provide credits to the economy and develop the financial market. We will improve the financial and expenditure autonomy of the regions," Yanukovych said.
President Yanukovych discussing economic reform at a meeting of the Committee for Economic Reform. I regret being too glib on the CDS post, I should have reviewed the economic data before wondering why Ukraine was high on the default risk. Here's Ukraine's inflation from 2003-2010. As one can see Ukraine had high inflation in 2009, though inflation may come down this year. The IMF recommends that Ukraine reduce inflation to 5- 6 percent by 2014 and quickly cut the deficit.
| Year | Inflation rate (consumer prices) | Rank | Percent Change | Date of Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | -1.20 % | 216 | 2002 est. | |
| 2004 | 5.20 % | 72 | -533.33 % | 2003 est. |
| 2005 | 12.00 % | 200 | 130.77 % | 2004 est. |
| 2006 | 13.50 % | 205 | 12.50 % | 2005 est. |
| 2007 | 11.60 % | 198 | -14.07 % | 2006 |
| 2008 | 12.80 % | 208 | 10.34 % | 2007 est. |
| 2009 | 25.20 % | 213 | 96.88 % | 2008 est. |
| 2010 | 12.30 % | 202 | -51.19 % | 2009 |
Inflation Chart Ukraine 2003-2010, IndexMundi
Unfortunately don't have figures on the budget deficit over the years, below is external debt.
| Year | Debt - external | Rank | Percent Change | Date of Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | $14,200,000,000 | 47 | 2002 | |
| 2004 | $16,130,000,000 | 51 | 13.59 % | 2003 |
| 2005 | $16,370,000,000 | 55 | 1.49 % | 2004 est. |
| 2006 | $23,930,000,000 | 57 | 46.18 % | 2005 est. |
| 2007 | $48,870,000,000 | 42 | 104.22 % | 30 October 2006 |
| 2008 | $69,040,000,000 | 39 | 41.27 % | 31 December 2007 |
| 2009 | $101,700,000,000 | 36 | 47.31 % | 31 December 2008 |
| 2010 | $104,000,000,000 | 33 | 2.26 % | 31 December 2009 est. |
The is a graph showing Ukraine's currency crash against the dollar, from Google Finance. The screen grab is a bit poor, but one can't miss the sharp drop in hryvnia's value against the dollar in late 2008.
Assorted links
- Timothy Snyder writes on Ukraine. [New York Review of Books]
- On the ubiquitous official stamp, Romanian edition. [The Economist]
- On a student death in police study. [Ukrainiana]
- A quixotic bid by Ukraine for the 2022 Olympics? [USA Today]
- President Yanukovych plans to address the nation on Thursday, makes another sexist comment. [Interfax, UNIAN]
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