S&P Global Ratings lowered its foreign currency (FC) long-term sovereign credit and issue ratings on Ukraine to ‘CC’ from ‘CCC+’. The outlook on the long-term sovereign rating is negative.
Fitch Ratings has upgraded Ukraine’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency (LTFC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CC’ from ‘RD’ (restricted default).
The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine expects a decline in GDP of at least 30-35% in 2022, and for the next year it has developed four macroeconomic scenarios, which, depending on the conditions, give from 0.4% further decline to 15.5% of economic growth, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko has reported.
The deficit of Ukraine’s trade in goods in July this year amounted to $1.798 billion, which is 4.1 times more than in July last year ($440 million). According to its data, exports of goods in July fell by 47.9% compared to last year, to $2.92 billion, while imports fell by 21.9%, to $4.718 billion. Geographically, in trade with the EU, even an increase in imports was recorded by 9.1%, to $2.651 billion, while exports decreased by 8.3%, to $2.158 billion.
The growth of consumer prices in Ukraine in July 2022 due to seasonal factors slowed down to 0.7% from 3.1% in June and 2.7% in May, returning to the level of the end of last year.
In July last year, inflation was 0.1%, so in annual terms, in July this year, it rose to 22.2% from 21.5% in June and 18% in May.
The loan portfolio of Ukrainian banks in July 2022 decreased by 6% to UAH 1.212 trillion, while the volume of non-performing loans (NPL) increased by 7.1% to UAH 363.682 billion, according to a report on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine ( NBU).
During January-May 2022, Ukraine’s leading retail companies paid about UAH 15 billion in taxes and provided jobs for almost 250,000 employees, the press service of the Retail Association of Ukraine (RAU) reported.
Economic Monitoring’s Project Manager – PhD in Economics, Maksim Urakin
