Daily monitor

The Ukrainian parliament has imposed a moratorium on the alienation of mortgaged real estate, if the property is the place where the owners permanently live. The moratorium comes into force from the day it is published and is valid until the end of the economic crisis, a point which should be determined by a separate parliamentary decision.

Sokrat participated in the third monthly macroeconomic consensus forecast organized by Expert business magazine (Kyiv, Ukraine), which climaxed in a round table discussion on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Most of Ukraine’s leading brokerage houses and think tanks participated.

According to the State Statistics Committee, telecommunication revenue increased by 3% in April to USD 481 mln. Revenue from urban and rural fixed line services dropped by 2.5% and 1.9% respectively.

Ukreximbank has received a USD 250 mln 10-year subordinated loan from EBRD. The main purpose of this loan is to support the continued funding of Ukraine’s real economy by one of the country’s leading financial institutions, said an EBRD statement.

Negative statistics on power output were released yesterday by the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine.

The US Department of Agriculture decreased its estimates on Ukraine’s harvest in the 2009/10 marketing year by 27.5% YoY to 38.6 mln mt of grain. According to the USDA, Ukraine will harvest 19 mln mt of mill quality grain and 19.7 mln mt of fodder grain. Consequently, Ukraine’s wheat and barley exports will shrink to 7 mln mt and 5.7 mln mt respectively.

The Government of Ukraine has finally allocated UAH 2.2 bln (USD 0.3 bln) from the Stabilization Fund for agrarian needs. In particular, UAH 800 mln (USD 104.8 mln) will be directed for reimbursing bank interest, whereUAH 120 mln (USD 15.7 mln) is specified for the reimbursement of loans attracted by farmers for implementing innovation projects.

The privatization auction of a 25% stake in Poltavaoblenergo [POON UZ, BUY] was postponed by the State Property Fund from May 20 till May 27, 2009. No applications were handed in for the prior date, the SPF announced. The SPF had set the initial asking price for the 25% stake in POON at UAH 308 mln (USD 40 mln), or UAH 5.6 (USD 0.7) per share, as it had during previous attempts.

The National Bank of Ukraine issued Statement 282, which cancels the grounds upon which banks could refuse to allow early withdrawals by clients. However, the situation remains uncertain since NBU Board Governor Volodymir Stelmakh has commented that moratorium still is in effect, RBC says.

According to a note from the State Statistics Committee, foreign trade came close to balance in 1Q09, with a deficit of USD 0.42 bln announced. This figure followed an earlier announcement of a USD 1.44 bln merchandise balance deficit and compares drastically with a USD 3.79 bln trade balance deficit in 1Q08.