The mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Ron van Rooden started working in Kyiv on Thursday, the IMF representative office in Ukraine has told Interfax-Ukraine. The IMF representative office said that the mission arrived in Kyiv the day before.
As IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine Goesta Ljungman reported in the middle of August, the IMF mission will visit Kyiv during September 6-19, 2018, to discuss recent economic developments and policies.
Ljungman also said that the mission will also discuss next steps, including financial assistance from the IMF in support of policies to maintain macroeconomic stability and keep the economy on a path toward sustainable and inclusive growth.
Ukraine’s Acting Finance Minister Oksana Markarova said that Ukraine plans to discuss all current issues with the IMF and continuation of cooperation after the completion of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) in March 2019.
According to her, the successful fourth review of the IMF EFF and the receipt of the fifth tranche of $2 billion will open the way to attract financing to the national budget on preferential terms, using the World Bank’s guarantee for$ 800 million, as well as receiving macro-financial assistance from the EU for EUR 1 billion.
In turn, NBU Governor Yakiv Smolii said that approaching the prospect of receiving financing from the IMF will have a positive impact on the state of the currency market of Ukraine and will also improve the government’s ability to borrow on the international capital markets.
“The arrival of the IMF mission to Kyiv is a step towards reducing uncertainty regarding the further development of the situation in the Ukrainian economy and improving the expectations of market participants,” the head of the NBU said in the middle of August.
As reported, the four-year-EFF program worth SDR 12.348 billion (about $17.46 billion at the current forex rate) was launched in March 2015 with a first disbursement of $5 billion. It originally suggested a quarterly review of the program, the allocation of three more tranches worth SDR 1.18 billion each in 2015 and a reduction in quarterly disbursements in 2016-2018 to SDR 0.44 billion ($0.61 billion).
Under the ongoing program, Ukraine has managed to receive a second tranche worth $1.7 billion early in August 2015 with a little delay, which was followed by a long break as Ukraine had failed to meet a number of conditions, which was aggravated by the political crisis and government reshuffles.
Talks on further financing resumed after the appointment of a new Cabinet of Ministers headed by Volodymyr Groysman in April 2016. However, the IMF decided to issue a third disbursement worth $1 billion only in the middle of September 2016 and a fourth one on April 3, 2017.
Since July 2017 Ukraine has been in a complicated negotiating process with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the gas issue. The IMF insists on raising the price of gas for the population, which, according to various estimates, may range from 30% to 60% due to rising prices in international markets, while the prime minister had previously pointed out the irrationality of such a sharp increase.
A government source said that during this period Ukraine offered the IMF at least eight options of changing the formula for gas prices, based on observance of the principles agreed upon with the IMF.
The Fund’s position is quite tough, as the government last year decided to raise gas prices that allowed Ukraine to receive a tranche from the IMF, but subsequently unilaterally refused to implement it.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on June 19, 2018 said that the implementation of the actions related to gas prices is critical to allow the completion of the pending review under Ukraine’s IMF-supported program.
She said that another action is critical: observing the upper limit for the budget deficit.
Ukraine in January-August 2018 exported electricity worth $213.38 million, including $27.254 million in August alone. Hungary bought electricity worth $127.415 million, Poland $49.233 million, Moldova $31.397 million, other countries $5.335 million, Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service has said. Exports of Ukrainian electricity in monetary terms in January-August 2018 increased by 21.1% compared to the same period in 2017 ($176.241 million).
Over the period under review, Ukraine imported electricity worth $1.056 million, in particular, electricity imports from the Russian Federation were estimated at $1.005 million, from Belarus at $0.046 million, from Moldova at $0.006 million.
As reported, Ukraine plans in 2018 to increase exports of electricity to the EU and Moldova by 13.3% from 2017 to 5.855 billion kWh. According to the forecast for 2018, deliveries from the Burshtyn TPP energy island to Hungary, Slovakia, Romania will be 3.6 billion kWh, to Poland 1.2 billion kWh, and to Moldova 1.055 billion kWh.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Turkish Airlines from September 25, 2018 will increase the frequency of Odesa-Istanbul flights by three, to 21 times a week.
According to the airline’s press release, flights will be operated according to the following schedule: daily departure from Istanbul at 07:55 and 19:10, from Odesa at 10:25 and 21:35; on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays with departure from Istanbul at 00:50 and from Odesa at 3:20; and also on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays with departure from Istanbul at 13:10 and from Odesa at 15:40 local time.
As reported, Turkish Airlines in 2017 served more than 600,000 passengers on its own flights to/from Ukraine, which is 18% more than in 2016.
The flight schedule of Turkish Airlines in Ukraine covers Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Kharkiv.
Turkish Airlines (Türk Hava Yolları, THY) was established in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft. For today has an air fleet of 329 passenger and cargo aircraft.
Ukraine has exclusively developed medicines, which will be registered by regulatory agencies of Europe and the United States, Director General of YURiA-PHARM pharmaceutical company Dmytro Derkach.
Commenting on the study of the data about the market of drugs with insufficient evidence base initiated by Anti Corruption Action Centre (AntAC) with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation last week, he told Interfax-Ukraine that “according to the logic of the authors of this study, only drugs originating from the countries with regulatory authorities FDA (the United States) or EMA (the European Union) have the “proven effectiveness,” that is, Ukraine has no right to own inventions and developments.”
“The authors reject the idea that Ukraine has its own scientific and industrial potential, which is also capable of giving the world original and effective medicines or methods of treatment, and with the assistance of the state, capable of registering its products with the FDA and EMA regulatory authorities. It takes time and resources. Ukraine chose the path of European integration only a few years ago,” he said.
Derkach said that YURiA-PHARM is currently “on the way to register their products in the FDA and EMA.” Reosorbilact preparation is the process of registration, which is mentioned in the research materials as a drug that is among the top ten in terms of pharmacy sales, but at the same time, according to the authors of the study, not having clinically proven effectiveness.
According to Derkach, Reosorbilact is the development of domestic scientists of the Lviv Research Institute of Blood Pathology and Transfusion Medicine of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine. As an original drug, it was registered early 2000s, having passed all the phases of clinical trials in accordance with the current legislation and legal acts of Ukraine. It has become the basis of numerous scientific research and defending candidate and doctoral dissertations during the past years. Currently, it is registered in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan, in most countries of the former CIS.
According to Derkach, “in fact, the authors of this study question the professional competence of the domestic scientific medical and pharmaceutical community.”
YURiA-PHARM Corporation is a manufacturer of infusion solutions, medicines and medical products. It is among top ten leaders in pharmacy sales.
YURiA-PHARM is a member of the Association Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU).
