Ukraine may receive a tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) by the end of 2021, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Yuriy Heletiy said.
“Continuing cooperation with the IMF is the most important task for the NBU, Ukrainian stakeholders and all government agencies. Now we need to move towards reaching the Staff Level Agreement, which will mean updating our memorandum of cooperation for the first revision by the Board of Directors,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the deputy governor, the NBU also expects to receive the second tranche of macro-financial assistance from the EU in the amount of EUR 600 million and the second part of the DPL from the World Bank for $350 million. He said that the possibility of obtaining this financing by Ukraine directly depends on success in cooperation with the IMF.
Heletiy said that in order to continue cooperation with the IMF, the NBU fulfills structural beacons, in particular, it conducts a self-assessment on the supervisory process, reporting and tools in accordance with the Basel Core Principles.
Ukraine can become a better supplier of raw materials and components for future technologies for Europe than China, Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maroš Šefčovič has said.
“I think you can do better than China. I understand the President, the Prime Minister and your business leaders who want to ensure that Ukraine builds an entire vertically integrated value chain around critical raw materials and that as much value added as possible remains in Ukraine […] Ukraine clearly could be the key supplier of raw materials and components for these future technologies for Europe,” Šefčovič said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
QUOTES OF INTERBANK CURRENCY MARKET OF UKRAINE (UAH FOR $1, IN 01.06.2021-30.06.2021)
NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy plans to actively develop the function of gas trading and from the organized market to become a market maker on it, Head of its board Yuriy Vitrenko announced the company’s plans at the 12th International Ukrainian Energy Forum of the Adam Smith Institute in Kyiv.
“Naftogaz will develop full-fledged trading […] In the future, we want to build a full-fledged trading function as part of Naftogaz. We see the need to work in the market and become a market maker, provide liquidity to the Ukrainian gas market and ensure the construction of a platform on which everyone can offer standardized products,” he said.
Vitrenko said that over the past few years, Naftogaz has been selling mainly gas of its own production and certain volumes of gas from storage facilities.
“I would not call it trading at all,” the head of the board said.
Commenting on the plans for the development of trading on the sidelines of the forum, Vitrenko said that Naftogaz, as a national company responsible for energy security, must ensure the priority of using its own gas to meet the needs of domestic consumers, the population.
“We produce approximately 15 billion cubic meters of gas [per year]. The population consumes about 12 billion cubic meters of gas through heat supply and direct consumption. Therefore, in principle, our own gas should be considered as a strategic resource to meet the needs of the population,” the head of Naftogaz board said.
At the same time, he said this does not mean that there should be no market and market pricing in this segment.
“But from the point of view of security of supplies, we must understand that this resource is primarily for the population,” Vitrenko said.
With regard to the imported resource, he said that Naftogaz considers it from the point of view of how much the market needs insurance from the national company to ensure sufficient volumes of gas on the wholesale market for the needs of the industry.
“But even in this segment, we understand that our responsibility, as a national company, is to develop the market, to be a so-called market maker: to provide real liquidity and real development of the market,” the head of the company’s board said.
According to him, currently Naftogaz sells gas on the Ukrainian Energy Exchange, but until there are opportunities for real trading, in accordance with international standards, it is difficult for the company to be a market maker in the market.
Slovenia has opened its borders for tourists from Ukraine after previously imposed restrictions to counter the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, according to an interactive map of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
It is indicated that the regime of temporary entry into Slovenia is allowed for citizens of Ukraine, provided a negative test for COVID-19 by the PCR method (72 hours before crossing the border) or a negative rapid test for the determination of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus antigen (no more than 48 hours before crossing the border), or a COVID-19 vaccination certificate.
The temporary transit regime for 12 hours is also allowed.
The Center for Economic Recovery and the Ukrainian Business and Trade Association (UBTA) in a letter to Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal propose to consider three scenarios for reducing the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and, accordingly, adjust the goal of Ukraine’s second Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris agreement.
“Considering the fact that for the entire period of Ukraine’s independence, the dynamics of GDP and the dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions had an almost direct correlation, business associations expressed concern about Ukraine’s plans with great ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 35% by 2030 from the 1990 level,” the letter says.
The analytical report prepared by the associations contains three scenarios for reducing CO2 emissions until 2030. As noted, the scenarios are calculated in accordance with the goals of the National Economic Strategy of Ukraine.
According to the baseline scenario, with the volume of investments in decarbonization at the level of EUR12 billion, Ukraine will be able to reduce CO2 emissions to 43% of the 1990 level.
The conservative scenario envisages achieving a more ambitious goal of reducing emissions to 40%. At the same time, investments in decarbonization should increase to EUR27 billion.
In accordance with the optimistic scenario, Ukraine can reduce CO2 emissions to 36% (the target is 35%), provided that it invests EUR50 billion in decarbonization by 2030.
The letter states that at the current level of financing environmental modernization, only the baseline scenario is realistic for Ukraine so far.
