All ten members of the the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) following the meeting on April 14, spoke in favor of raising the discount rate by 1 percentage point (p.p.), to 7.5% per annum in order to bring inflation to the target.
“The MPC members unanimously supported the increase in the discount rate to 7.5%, which is necessary for a gradual slowdown in inflation and its return to the target of 5% in the first half of 2022,” the NBU said in a statement.
According to the document, the participants in the discussion agreed that the forecast trajectory of inflation exceeding expectations, high inflationary expectations, as well as increased inflationary risks on the horizon of monetary policy require a decisive response from the National Bank.
The MPC several members said that temporary shocks related to the rise in fuel and food prices have largely been implemented, and therefore their impact will gradually weaken.
It is noted that the market’s reaction to the increase in the discount rate in March indicates its readiness of the market to perceive the signals of the National Bank, in particular, since the beginning of April, most rates on deposits of various maturities have stopped decreasing, and some of them have slightly increased.
The committee’s members expect that the current increase in the key rate will strengthen the transmission momentum through the interest rate channel, which will first affect interbank rates and rates on corporate deposits of banks, and from the middle of the year – on the profitability of deposits for the population, which will affect the reorientation of part of consumer demand in favor of deposits in banks and, accordingly, will contain its pressure on inflation.
One of the participants in the discussion noted the growth of bank savings of citizens due to the decrease in spending on tourism and certain types of services, access to which was complicated by lockdown.
According to this member, the high liquidity surplus in the banking system weakens the effectiveness of the monetary transmission mechanism: there is no urgent need for banks to strengthen the price competition of deposit resources.
At the same time, another participant in the discussion said that despite the increase in the discount rate, the NBU monetary policy remains soft, since, given the increased inflationary expectations, the level of the neutral discount rate is now from 9% to 9.5%.
He said that if the situation develops according to the basic scenario of the macro forecast, the transition of the National Bank to a neutral monetary policy will take place only in late 2021 or early 2022.
At the same time, he said that the baseline scenario provides for the resumption of cooperation with the IMF in the summer and does not imply an aggravation of the military conflict.
Most of the participants in the discussion believe that the decisions to increase the discount rate in March and April are sufficient to bring inflation to the 5% target in the first half of 2022. At the same time, several participants in the discussion said that inflationary pressures may be underestimated due to the high level of uncertainty, so they did not rule out the need to continue the cycle of increasing the discount rate.
The NBU press service said that the meeting was attended by all ten members of the MPC, including NBU Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko; First Deputy Governor Kateryna Rozhkova; Deputies: Yuriy Helety, Yaroslav Matuzka, Dmytro Solohub and Oleksiy Shaban, as well as department directors: Vitaliy Vavryschuk (financial stability); Volodymyr Lepushynsky (monetary policy and economic analysis); Oleksiy Lupin (open markets) and Yuriy Polovniov (statistics and reporting).
Within the program of celebrating Malbec World Day, a professional tasting was held under the auspices of the Embassy of Argentina, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of Argentina, the Wines of Argentina association and the Argentine Wine Company.
The organizer of the tasting with food-and-wine pairing was the Cheese Kingdom chain of stores.
The Ambassador’s residence has become a real reflection of the culture of Argentina, where an incredible atmosphere soared thanks to the best professionals in their field.
Ideal pairs were chosen and the wines were commented on: Valeria Gamper – Best Sommelier in Argentina 2019, Juan Pablo Murgia – Best Argentine Oenologist 2021 under 40, Emiliano Stratico – WSET teacher in Bordeaux, and Denis Priimagi – First Cheese Sommelier in Ukraine, the author of Cheese Kingdom and a jury member of The World Cheese Awards.
The tasting was attended by professional figures of Ukraine: the best sommeliers and cavists, the owners of culinary schools, catering companies, event operators and other professionals in the high-end gastronomy segment.
The following best combinations were selected:
1) Argento Organic Malbec 2020 with Beemster Royaal Grand Cru;
2) La Mascota Malbec 2019 – Aged Sheep Cheese (6 months);
3) Santa Ana Malbec Reserve – Gudbrandsdalen;
4) Fuzion Malbec 2018 – Gorgonzola Dolce;
5) La Linda Malbec 2018 – Der Alte old Gouda;
6) Trapiche Malbec – Tete de Moine.
Cheese Kingdom is a family of atmospheric Dutch cheese shops, with 100 types of cheese from Europe. The mission of the Cheese Kingdom chain is to develop the European culture of cheese consumption in Ukraine. To teach understand it, love, create, serve, cut, taste and cook correctly every day. Today there are 74 stores in the Cheese Kingdom chain throughout Ukraine.
A China-Europe freight train carrying household goods is heading from Guangzhou, China, to Odessa, Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure said on its Facebook page on Friday.
“Aa total of 50 containers with a volume of 40 feet each left the territory of Mongolia, 5,330 km are left to the border with Ukraine… This route combines the delivery of goods by sea and rail, as it combines two ports – Chinese Gaunzhou and Ukrainian Odessa. The distance between destinations is 8,408 km,” – the message says.
The ministry said that in Mongolia, the train was reloaded at the railway docking port of Erenhot. More than 6,000 freight trains from China to Europe pass through this hub.
The Ministry of Infrastructure recalled that the first train from the Chinese port of Guangzhou to Europe left for Poland at the end of April this year.
In 15 days, it arrived at its destination almost twice as fast as by sea.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov held a telephone conversation, during which they agreed to establish a Business Council uniting the businesses of the two countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said.
“Today, it is the ministries of foreign affairs of the two countries that are the driving force of bilateral relations between Ukraine and Turkmenistan. Together we are reaching a qualitatively new level of interaction,” the Ukrainian MFA press service said, citing Kuleba on Friday.
Kuleba confirmed the interest of the Ukrainian side in the participation of leading Ukrainian companies in the implementation of major business projects in Turkmenistan. In turn, Meredov said the Turkmen side sees Ukrainian companies as reliable partners and is interested in expanding cooperation.
“The heads of Ukrainian and Turkmen diplomacy agreed to create a Business Council, which will unite Ukrainian and Turkmen businesses on a permanent basis,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The head of the Ukrainian MFA proposed expanding bilateral cooperation to new sectors, in particular, medical tourism and agriculture.
Kuleba also noted the importance of restoring direct flights between Ashgabat and Kyiv and Ashgabat and Lviv for the revitalization of interpersonal and business contacts.
“Inter-human ties best strengthen relations between our societies and states,” he said.
The ministers discussed preparations for the fifth meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Ukrainian-Turkmen Commission on Economic, Cultural and Humanitarian Cooperation in Kyiv.
The sides paid special attention to the issues of mutual support of initiatives within international organizations, as well as interaction in the education and culture sectors.
Meredov highly appreciated the extremely friendly attitude of Ukraine towards Turkmen students studying in Ukraine. Kuleba said he would cordially welcome the increase in the number of students from Turkmenistan in Ukrainian educational institutions.
A separate subject of conversation was the prospects for the development of new logistics routes between Central Europe and Central Asia, in which Ukraine and Turkmenistan can play a key role.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has approved $150 million in assistance to Ukraine to strengthen its defense capabilities, including training and advisory efforts, according to the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.
“New $150 million package for Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, including training, equipment and advisory efforts to help Ukraine’s forces preserve the country’s territorial integrity, secure its borders, and improve NATO interoperability,” the embassy said on Twitter.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the U.S. side for the decision.
“Grateful to the White House for this important contribution to saving lives of our soldiers and strengthening capabilities of the Ukrainian army,” the president said on Twitter.
Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko criticized head of the Ministry of Health Maksym Stepanov for poor planning of measures to combat COVID-19, while admitting the possibility of increasing spending on medicine in the state budget-2021.
“He behaves like a character from ’12 Chairs’. ‘Money in the morning – chairs in the evening, money in the evening – chairs in the morning, but money in advance.’ That’s how Stepanov behaves. His task is to get as much of a budget as possible, taking advantage of the fact that we have a COVID, we have problems, we have people dying, and then, using this rhetoric, to solve those problems that are necessary to solve. I think this is absolutely wrong,” Marchenko said in an interview with lb.ua.
“We must first propose a plan, show a solution to the problem, and there was enough time for that, and then ask the finance minister or the government questions to search for funds. And now we have the approach – first money, and then I will fight COVID-19. It is impossible to put the question like that,” the minister said.
At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Finance pointed to the unspent funds of the Fund to Combat COVID-19 at the end of 2020.
“At the Cabinet of Ministers we often sort things out, and this is normal, because I have something to ask him, in particular, about the leftovers of last year. He collected money, and in the end we got leftovers that were not used,” Marchenko said.
Speaking about the possibility of correction of the state budget for 2021, he also said there is a possibility of increasing spending on medicine.
“There is a possibility of such a scenario, since there is a need to close several issues on medicine. We will discuss with the IMF and with other partners the possibility of minor adjustments to the budget,” Marchenko said.
