Daily monitor

According to Metal Courier, a CIS metallurgy and mining research group, prices for K coal concentrate in Ukraine decreased further in May to USD 63 per mt from USD 65 per mt in April. Zh coal concentrate dropped to USD 61 per mt in May from USD 67 per mt in April. The price for imported Russian coal concentrate decreased from USD 66 (April) to USD 62 (May) per mt.

The National Bank Ukraine (NBU) has revoked Prichornomorya Bank’s license and started the bank’s liquidation process. Prychonomorya becomes the first Ukrainian bank since the beginning of the crisis to fall victim to an NBU decision to liquidate.

Naftogaz Ukrayiny (NAFTO), the state controlled oil and gas monopoly, has repaid a USD 200 mln loan to Standard Bank. The loan was taken in November 2005 at LIBOR+1.65%.

The State Property Fund of Ukraine postponed the privatisation auctions of 25% stakes in Prykarpattyaoblenergo [PREN UZ, BUY] and Sumyoblenergo from May 22 to May 29. Nobody applied for the auction this time, the SPF announced. The initial asking price for the 25% stake in PREN is UAH 231 mln (USD 30.3 mln) and for the 25% stake in Sumyoblenergo is UAH 209 mln (USD 27.4 mln).

According to a statement from IFC, the Board of Directors of IFC is going to consider the allocation of USD 20 mln to Megabank [MEGA UZ U/R] on May 22, 2009. USD 10 mln would be provided under a 3-year convertible loan, and the other half as a 7-year subordinated loan.

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.