Ukraine may try to refuse cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the electoral cycle 2023-2024, analysts at Bank of America (BofA) believe.
According to the BofA Global Research report, which is owned by Interfax-Ukraine, analysts believe that it may be extended to 2022 “given limited progress.”
“However, we also think that the Ukrainian authorities may try to ‘graduate’ from reliance on IMF financing during the next electoral cycle in the second half of 2023 – the first quarter of 2024,” the analysts said in the report.
According to the report, the authorities may be open to the idea of a new program after the elections as part of broader cooperation with the West, but may prefer not to be bound by IMF conditionality and the usual implementation problems during the electoral campaign.
According to BofA, this may lead to a period without an active IMF program, although some form of cooperation will likely remain in place in any scenario.
The next Verkhovna Rada elections are planned for October 2023, followed by presidential elections in March 2024. This leaves 2022 as the remaining window for continued close cooperation with the IMF, BofA believes.
“We think the extension of the current SBA program [under the stand-by arrangements] for another year or so is the most likely scenario. The extension may allow Ukraine to roll over at least part of its nearly $3 billion in maturities to the IMF in 2021-2022,” BofA said in the report.
Ukraine’s ability to withhold official funding is likely to directly depend on fiscal consolidation in 2022-2023.
At the same time, as noted by BofA, a flexible approach to fiscal policy is likely to mean the need for IMF financing even during the electoral cycle.
Although Ukraine must fulfill a number of conditions in the current program of the Fund, analysts still believe that Ukraine will be able to pass the first test and receive the first tranche in July-September 2021.
The initiative for coal regions in transition in the Western Balkans and Ukraine, led by the European Commission, will help them attract funding from a number of international financial institutions (IFIs), according to the announcement of the annual meeting of the initiative on June 23-25, made by the Delegation of the European Union in Ukraine. “The aim of the event is to support open, multi-stakeholder dialogue on coal phase out and just transition towards sustainable energy sources in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine,” according to the announcement.
As noted in the EU Delegation, “the initiative will help coal regions access financing for transition projects or programmes, based on various sources available from the European Commission, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the European Investment Bank.”
In addition, the initiative contains four other pillars of support. This is a comprehensive stakeholder dialogue, an exchange program between coal mining regions, trainings by the Coal Region Learning Academy and technical assistance.
As stated on the website of the European Commission, the initiative for coal regions with economies in transition in the Western Balkans and Ukraine was launched in December 2020 and aims to help countries and regions move from coal to a carbon-neutral economy. It will support coal regions in the EU’s neighboring countries, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine.
The initiative is managed by the European Commission and collaborates with six international partners: the World Bank, the Energy Community Secretariat, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management of Poland (NFOSiGW), and the College of Europe in Natolin.
The Greek Ministry of Tourism has announced two important changes to the health protocols for tourists entering the country, European Truth said, citing Ekathimerini.
First, the Greek government has decided to allow travelers with a negative rapid test, and not just a PCR test, to enter the country.
Secondly, the minimum age at which children entering the country must provide documents confirming that they are not sick with coronavirus (COVID-19) has been increased. Now children under 12 years old are allowed to enter without such documents. Previously, it was allowed for children under six years old.
All these changes concern people arriving from countries for which it is allowed to travel to Greece and from Greece.
Those traveling to Greece are also given the option to show the EU vaccination certificate in digital or written form instead of a negative test result.
The Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe in January-May this year increased steel production by 10.6% compared to the same period last year, to 368,200 tonnes.
According to the company’s monthly report, for the five months of 2021, pipe production increased by 6.4%, to 206,700 tonnes, the output of railway products decreased by 24.1%, to 68,000 tonnes.
In May, steel smelting amounted to 86,000 tonnes (in April – 89,200 tonnes), pipe production – 51,600 tonnes (48,300 tonnes), railway products – 13,000 tonnes (14,700 tonnes).
It is also reported that pipes in January-May of this year were sold in Europe (29%), the MENA region (25%), Ukraine (17%), the CIS (12%), the American continent (14%) and other regions (3%). In May, pipes were sold in Europe (24%), Ukraine (14%), the MENA region (30%), the CIS (11%), the American continent (17%) and other regions (4%).
Railway products for the five months of 2021 were sold in the CIS (48%), Europe (32%), Ukraine (8%), the MENA region (3%), the American continent (7%) and other regions (3%). In May – in the CIS (48%), Europe (29%), Ukraine (7%), the MENA region (2%), the American continent (4%) and in other regions (10%).
According to Interpipe’s commentary, in May 2021, the company’s trading activity continued to recover in all key products and markets in connection with the lifting of quarantine restrictions in the world and the recovery of business activity.
At the same time, the total sales of the company’s pipe products in May increased by 9.1% compared to the previous month, to 48,900 tonnes, and by 6.1% in the five months of 2021, to 198,800 tonnes.
The Verkhovna Rada is proposed to introduce ceiling prices for certain types of export products, upon exceeding which exporting companies will be obliged to pay 50% of the revenues received in excess of the established limit to the state budget, which will make it possible to replenish the state budget for a total amount of $ 6.37 billion per year and redirect these funds to support the social sphere.
Corresponding bill No. 5666 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on June 16 by MPs Oleh Dunda, Bohdan Yaremenko and Oleksandr Aleksiychuk (all of them are from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction).
According to an explanatory note to the bill, it is proposed to tax a portion of foreign currency earnings exceeding the limits established by the bill with a 50% tax. For wheat, the limit is proposed to be set at $ 230/tonne (as of June 1, its average export price is $ 283/tonne), corn – $ 170/tonne ($ 271/tonne), rapeseeds – $ 350/tonne ($ 568/tonne), oats – $ 230/tonne ($ 265/tonne), sunflower oil – $ 850/tonne ($ 1,300/tonne). Accordingly, if a 50% tax is imposed on part of the profits received by exporters in excess of the established limits, the state budget will receive $ 450 million from taxation of exported wheat, corn will bring $ 1.21 billion, rapeseeds – $ 440 million, oats – $ 10 million, sunflower oil – $ 1.57 billion, the document says.
It is also proposed to tax the profits exceeding the established limits for exporters of iron ore, steel scrap and rebar, aluminum, copper, zinc and nickel.
According to the explanatory note to the document, the taxation of “excess profits” in these commodity groups will make it possible to replenish the state budget for a total of $ 6.37 billion per year.
“The tax is levied on excess profits, that is, the profits that a business entity received by taking advantage of the favorable market conditions. Usually this is a temporary measure that is applied when the country’s budget is experiencing an acute deficit,” the authors of the bill explain.
Ukraine this year will launch a project to build a new format of hospitals that will correspond to the level of European clinics, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“One of the steps towards high-quality medicine will be our new project – the launch of hospitals of a new, qualitatively different format, according to the best international standards. Hospitals are equally comfortable for both the patient and the doctor. We are starting this project this year with regional clinical and children’s hospitals, which should correspond to the level of European clinics,” Zelensky said during a speech on the Medical Worker Day, which was broadcast by the President’s Office on Facebook.
According to the president, this project will be implemented in every region.
“The new institutions will become an example of quality for future plans to renovate all hospitals in Ukraine,” he added.
According to Zelensky, the construction of hospitals is also ongoing under the Big Construction national program.
“Some 33 hospitals and 60 rural outpatient clinics have already been created. It is planned to have 30 more medical institutions and 340 rural outpatient clinics by the end of 2021, plus 200 modern admission departments throughout Ukraine,” the president said.
