Ukraine has fulfilled all obligations for the third revision of the EFF extended financing program and expects a positive decision by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the allocation of the fourth tranche of about $900 million in the near future, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said.
“We are expecting a meeting of the board of the International Monetary Fund in the near future. It seems to me that the date of such a meeting is planned for March 21, at which a decision on Ukraine will be made,” he said on the national telethon.
According to Marchenko, these funds will be received immediately after a successful discussion at the Executive Board.
“So far we are fulfilling all our obligations. And I don’t see any particular problems for us to continue to fulfill these obligations in 2024,” the Minister of Finance emphasized, predicting further cooperation with the IMF under the EFF program.
He also noted that Ukraine still considers the basic option of receiving direct budget support from the United States this year, about which it receives constant assurances from the American side.
“We hope that a solution will be found in the lower house (of the U.S. Congress). There is now every reason for this. We hope that direct budget support will continue, this is important for cooperation with the IMF, for forming a pool of partners,” Marchenko said.
Net sale of dollars by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) rose from $133.7m, the lowest value in the last 11 months, to $262.6m this week, the regulator’s data show.
According to them, the sale of currency increased from $156.8 million to $263.0 million, while the purchase fell back to almost zero, although the National Bank managed to buy more than $50 million on the market in the previous two weeks after a long break.
The official hryvnia exchange rate weakened by almost 66 kop. – From 38.1410 UAH/$1 to $38.7998 UAH/$1 – the lowest level in the history of the national currency. At the same time, market participants note that the decline occurred with a relatively small volume of trading.
On the cash market, the hryvnia exchange rate followed the interbank rate, but with a smaller amplitude: a strong weakening in the first three days and relative stabilization at the end of the week. As a result, during the week it decreased by about 33 kop. – from UAH 38.53/$1 to UAH 38.86/$1. At the same time, according to the NBU, despite the weakening of the exchange rate in the first half of the week, the negative balance between the volume of foreign currency purchases and sales by the population decreased during these days: from $28.6 mln on Monday to $10.3 mln on Wednesday
At a press conference on March 14, representatives of the National Bank said that by the end of April they expect external financing in the amount of $10bn or more, which will allow to restore reserves, while before that Ukraine had received only $1.2bn since the beginning of the year.
At the same time, the NBU noted that such non-rhythmic external financing will not lead to any shocks on the currency market.
As reported, at the end of February, the NBU’s net sales fell to $1.50 billion from $2.53 billion in January, $3.55 billion in December and $2.45 billion in November.
However, in February, external support amounted to only about $0.8bn, so international reserves fell by 3.8% or $1.47bn to $37.05bn after falling by 4.9% or UAH $1.98bn in January.
The National Bank in January lowered its forecast for Ukraine’s international reserves at the end of 2024 to $40.4 billion from $44.7 billion.
The negative balance of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January 2024 decreased by 11.7% compared to the same month in 2023 – to $1.678 billion from $1.9 billion, the State Statistics Service (Gosstat) said on Friday. According to its data, exports of goods from Ukraine in January 2024 compared to January 2023 increased by 8.2% to $3.4 billion, while imports increased by 0.7% to $5.078 billion.
The State Statistics Committee specified that in January-2024 compared to December-2023 seasonally adjusted exports increased by 7.4% to $3.47 billion, while imports remained virtually unchanged at $5.536 billion.
The seasonally adjusted foreign trade balance in January-2024 was negative at $2.066 billion, while December-2023 also recorded a negative balance of $2.304 billion.
The coefficient of export coverage of imports in January 2024 amounted to 0.67 (in January 2023 – 0.62).
State Statistics specified that foreign trade operations were conducted with partners from 191 countries. Analytical Center Experts Club presented a video analysis of the main trends in the economy of Ukraine and the world – https://youtu.be/w5fF_GYyrIc?si=vN_Jp0fh8u1xN_U2.
Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak held a meeting with India’s Ambassador to Ukraine Harsh Kumar Jain, during which the interlocutors discussed areas of further cooperation, particularly in the issue of establishing a just peace in Ukraine, the Ukrainian presidential website reported on Thursday.
“The Head of the Office of the President highly appreciated the participation of Deputy National Security Advisor to Indian Prime Minister Vikram Misri in the fourth meeting of national security advisors and political advisors of the leaders of states in Davos on the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula,” the report said.
The Head of the Ukrainian Head of State’s Office informed the Ambassador about the preparation of the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland at the level of state leaders and noted the importance of India’s involvement in this process together with other partners of Ukraine, in particular with the G7 countries and the Global South.
“We stand on the position of honest, open consultations, because we are set for decisions taking into account the recommendations of partners, in particular, yours. The peace summit is very important for us. We will be happy to see the representative of India,” Yermak said.
Andriy Yermak, Harsh Kumar Jain, INDIA, Office of the President, UKRAINE
In Ukraine started registration for the national multi-subject test (NMT) in 2024.
“From today begins registration for participation in the national multi-subject test (NMT). It will last until April 11 inclusive. This year the Ukrainian Center for Education Quality Assessment conducts registration in paperless form,” – stated in the press service of the Ministry of Education and Science.
It is noted that with the help of a special service enrollees need to independently create a personal account and perform a number of actions in it.
In particular, it is necessary to: specify registration data (contact information, category “graduate of the current year” or “graduate of previous years”, to indicate the need for special (special) conditions, to choose from the proposed list of subjects to choose from and the locality in Ukraine or abroad, where it is planned to take NMT, as well as the language of passing subjects of certification work); download scans or photocopies of registration documents; send the entered information and copies of documents for processing in the regional center for quality assessment
As reported, the NMT in 2024 will include three compulsory subjects (Ukrainian language, mathematics and history of Ukraine of 16-21 centuries) and one subject of the applicant’s choice (foreign language (English, German, French, Spanish), biology, physics and chemistry, Ukrainian literature and geography). Testing will take place during the main (May 14-June 25) and additional sessions (July 11-19).
Ambassadors of the European Union member states have approved the allocation of 5 billion euros of military aid for Ukraine under the European Peace Facility.
The decision was taken on Wednesday in Brussels on the sidelines of a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives, the Belgian Presidency said on its social media page X.
“A deal! EU ambassadors agreed in principle to reform the European Peace Facility to support Ukraine with a €5 billion budget for 2024. The European Union remains determined to provide long-term support to Ukraine and to ensure that the country receives the military equipment it needs to defend itself,” the presidency said.
