After the imposition of sanctions against smugglers, the budget of Ukraine received UAH 71 billion, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov has said.
“The sanctions [for smugglers] are working. Today we can say with confidence that the amount of money that the budget additionally received after the imposition of sanctions is UAH 71 billion. We, no doubt, wanted it to be more, but we draw your attention to the fact that this is just the beginning. We are not going to dwell on this issue,” Danilov said at a briefing following the NSDC meeting on Thursday.
State PrivatBank (Kyiv) from December 24 began paying the next tranche in the amount of EUR9 million to victims of the Holocaust, in particular to former concentration camp prisoners and survivors of the German occupation, PrivatBank said on Tuesday.
According to the message, funds can be received in cash at any bank branch in cities and regions of Ukraine.
The press service recalled that PrivatBank has been making such payments since 2014 and is the only agent bank authorized by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to pay compensation to victims of Nazism on the territory of Ukraine within the framework of the Claims Conference company.
On December 18, 2016, the government of Ukraine, referring to the proposal of the NBU and former shareholders of PrivatBank, the largest of which at that time were Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov, decided to nationalize this largest financial institution on the Ukrainian market and injected over UAH 155 billion into its capital.
According to the statistics of the National Bank of Ukraine, as of October 1, 2021, in terms of total assets, PrivatBank was ranked 1st (UAH 550.328 billion) among 71 banks operating in the country.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal believes that Ukraine has fulfilled the conditions necessary for the disbursement of the second tranche of macro-financial assistance from the European Union, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers said on Sunday.
“Indeed, an important step in supporting us will be the allocation of the second tranche of macro-financial assistance before the completion of the current program in September this year. Ukraine has met all the conditions for receiving it,” Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said during a meeting with Executive Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis.
According to the Prime Minister, Ukraine has increased the transparency and efficiency of medical procurement, continued pursuing the reform of tax and customs services, and resumed the competitive procedure for selection for civil service positions.
Shmyhal also noted that the government has taken important steps to improve the anti-corruption infrastructure. Also, the Bureau of Economic Security was created, the functioning of the natural gas market was improved, and the reform of the corporate governance system of state-owned enterprises continues.
For his part, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission noted that the European Union has mobilized unprecedented financial and technical assistance for Ukraine. And the provision of the first tranche of macro-financial assistance in the amount of EUR 600 million in 2020 had been a sign of solidarity between the EU and Ukraine.
“Ukraine has made significant efforts towards implementation of the EU macro-financial assistance conditions and based on the preliminary analysis we can consider conditions as broadly met,” Valdis Dombrovskis said.
In addition, the Prime Minister noted that Ukraine had ensured the implementation of structural “beacons” and within the framework of joint stand-by arrangement with the IMF, which are necessary for the first revision of the program.
Ukraine may receive a $700 million tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September, the adviser to the President of Ukraine on economic issues, Oleh Ustenko, has said.
“The President of the country had a more than successful telephone conversation with Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva. The IMF mission is going to Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine has implemented all the preconditions of the IMF. We expect that a new tranche of about $700 million will be received from the IMF rather quickly,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
“I suppose that now we are moving according to the following scenario: in September – the mission, at once the issue of Ukraine is brought up to a meeting of the IMF Board of Directors, and in September I expect that we will receive a new tranche,” the president’s adviser added.
At the same time, Ustenko does not rule out the possibility of extending the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA).
“We have made serious progress, and this was noted. So I do not rule out that the SBA may be extended,” he said.
Ukraine may receive a tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) by the end of 2021, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Yuriy Heletiy said.
“Continuing cooperation with the IMF is the most important task for the NBU, Ukrainian stakeholders and all government agencies. Now we need to move towards reaching the Staff Level Agreement, which will mean updating our memorandum of cooperation for the first revision by the Board of Directors,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the deputy governor, the NBU also expects to receive the second tranche of macro-financial assistance from the EU in the amount of EUR 600 million and the second part of the DPL from the World Bank for $350 million. He said that the possibility of obtaining this financing by Ukraine directly depends on success in cooperation with the IMF.
Heletiy said that in order to continue cooperation with the IMF, the NBU fulfills structural beacons, in particular, it conducts a self-assessment on the supervisory process, reporting and tools in accordance with the Basel Core Principles.
PJSC Trunk Gas Pipelines of Ukraine made the first payment to JSC Ukrtransgaz in the amount of UAH 3.85 billion for corporate rights in the authorized capital of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine LLC (GTSOU), the press service of Ukrtransgaz reported.
The company clarified that the payment was made as part of the fulfillment of contractual obligations assumed by the parties as part of the process of separating natural gas transportation from Naftogaz (unbundling).
The financial report of Naftogaz noted that the sale and purchase agreement for a stake in GTSOU provides for the group to receive an initial financial contribution of UAH 3.871 billion and regular variable payments over 15 years based on a dynamic price calculated according to a formula agreed by the parties. Accounts receivable were recognized at the date of sale of GTSOU according to the value of UAH 81.306 billion. In addition, on January 1, 2020, Ukrtransgaz sold its own gas to GTSOU, which is necessary for the operation of the system, for UAH 4.53 billion.
In January-September 2020, GTSOU received a net profit of UAH 20.277 billion, net income – UAH 44.827 billion.
