Ukraine's Parliament Passes 2017 Budget, Possibly Freeing Up IMF Loans
Ukraine's parliament has approved a budget for 2017, raising its chances of securing more aid from the International Monetary Fund under a $17.5 billion loan package.
The document approved by 274 to 226 on December 21 keeps the budget deficit at 3 percent of gross domestic product, in line with the IMF's guidelines.
Legislators had intended to pass the budget weeks ago. Delays in approving it have held up the disbursement of another $1.3 billion loan, causing foreign exchange reserves to fall below the central bank's target.
The IMF and other international backers have propped up Ukraine's economy since the country plunged into turmoil in 2014 following Russia's annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of a separatist war in the east.
Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk called the new budget "realistic" and said it was needed to give momentum to economic reform. The budget projects economic growth of 3 percent next year, up from 1 percent in 2016.
The IMF said last month that to secure more loans, Ukraine needed to pass a suitable budget and step up efforts to fight corruption -- including by jailing crooked officials.
Based on reporting by Reuters and TASS
We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll leave you with this heads-up on a report that is being published tomorrow that could make waves.
As usual, we'll be back in the morning to follow all the latest developments. Until then, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.
Here's an excerpt from the article linked to in the tweet:
Booking.com hotel booking service makes the reservation process for temporarily occupied territory of Crimea available only for those who do not travel for leisure purposes, the company's press service has said.
"In order to avoid any misunderstanding regarding Booking.com's position in doing business with Crimea properties (which is not prohibited), Booking.com has (on a voluntary basis) adjusted its website and the reservation process to make sure that those who wish to make a reservation with a Crimea property can only do this if they do not travel for leisure purposes," the press service of Booking.com said in response to an inquiry of Interfax-Ukraine.
Here's an item on sanctions from RFE/RL's Mike Eckel and Carl Schreck, who are based in Washington:
U.S. Adds More Russians To Sanctions List, Including 'Putin's Chef'
WASHINGTON -- The United States has levied new sanctions against more Russians for Moscow's actions in Ukraine, hitting well-connected insiders, including the man known as Russian President Vladimir Putin's chef.
The updated list, announced on December 20 by the Treasury Department, includes seven Russians and more than three dozen companies in Russia and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The names added to the Specially Designated Nationals List include Yevgeny Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg businessman whose company has provided catering to the Kremlin.
Prigozhin has also been linked to a notorious "troll factory" that paid Russians to post anonymous comments to news sites, social media networks, and blogs in an effort to bolster Kremlin policies and undermine anti-Russian sentiment.
Other individuals include executives with current or previous ties to Bank Rossiya, which the Treasury Department previously sanctioned and called the "personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation."
The current chairman of the bank’s board, Dmitry Lebedev, is among those included on the new list.
"These targeted sanctions aim to maintain pressure on Russia by sustaining the costs of its occupation of Crimea and disrupting the activities of those who support the violence and instability in Ukraine,” John Smith, acting director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement.
Several subsidiaries of natural gas giant Novatek were added to the sanctions list. The parent company itself, which is Russia's largest independent gas producer, was included in the original sanctions list issued by the United States in 2014.
Fourteen other companies added are subsidiaries of Russian Agricultural Bank, а government-owned bank whose president is Dmitry Patrushev. His father, Nikolai Patrushev, is the head of Putin’s Security Council.
Russian Agricultural Bank was also included in the original sanctions list in 2014.
A Bloomberg editorial on Kyiv's nationalization of PrivatBank:
Here's a taster:
Nationalizing your biggest bank is never a happy affair but, if you have to, do it quickly.
Ukraine moved swiftly last weekend -- alongside the International Monetary Fund -- to clean up its banking system by taking over Privatbank, securing a stable deal for depositors and preventing systemic risk.
There was a $5.5 billion capital shortfall to be filled, a big hole for such a fragile economy with only $15 billion in central bank reserves. Privatbank accounts for half of payments in Ukraine's banking system and one-fifth of its banking assets. Deposits exceed $8 billion, of which three-quarters are retail and they're clearly the priority here.
The European Union and Italy should take note as they struggle with a last-gasp solution for Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA. A crucial element is persuading retail holders of junior debt that they should swap it for equity. That would cut the amount Monte Paschi has to raise from a parallel stock offering -- the hardest part of its 5 billion euro ($5.2 billion) fund-raising plan. It needs the capital to defray 30 billion euros in non-performing loans, thereby allowing the world's oldest
Read the entire article here.