Daily monitor

The Ukrainian Parliament amended the law on electricity yesterday.

The electricity tariff for residential users who consume more than 0.4 MWh per month grew by a factor of 3.1 to UAH 726 (USD 94) per MW including 20% VAT since April 1, 2009.

After affirming the long- and short-term counterparty ratings for Ukrsotsbank [USCB UZ, U/R] at CCC+/C with a negative outlook, the Standard & Poor rating agency has withdrawn Ukrsotsbank’s ratings at the bank’s request.

The third-largest Ukrainian public GenCo Zakhidenergo [ZAEN UZ: U/R] held its shareholder meeting yesterday. In 2008, the company recorded a UAH 89.8 mln (USD 17.0 mln) net loss.

According to several different sources, there are currently seven probable candidate banks for receiving state support: Rodovid Bank [RODB UZ, U/R], Ukrgazbank [UGZB UZ, U/R], Finance and Credit Bank, Nadra Bank [NADR UZ, U/R], Ukrprombank, Bank Kyiv and Imexbank.

Ukraine has launched an anti-dumping investigation on poultry imported from USA and Brazil. Top Ukrainian poultry producers have initiated this investigation.

Ukrros [UROS UZ, N/R], a Ukrainian sugar producer, has released its plans for 2009.

At its last AGM, the western Ukrainian electricity distribution company Zakarpattyaoblenergo [ZOEN UZ, BUY] decided to pay out UAH 3.86 mln in dividends for the year 2008.

On March 17, 2009, nearly five months after imposing provisional administration on Prominvestbank, the NBU has withdrawn Prominvestbank from provisional administration.

All industries in Ukraine saw a dramatic decline in real output in January-February 2009 compared to the respective period of 2008.