07/30/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - IMF provided next tranche of the stabilisation loan to Ukraine

IMF provided next tranche of the stabilisation loan to Ukraine

07.31.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• IMF provided next tranche of the stabilisation loan to Ukraine.
• The Constitutional Court declared draft law on decentralization of power, including the references to the special status of Donbass as constitutional .
• Prime Minister Yatsenyuk named the situation in the energy industry as a crisis.

Key Events In Ukraine

• The Constitutional Court declared that the draft law on the amendments to the Constitution about the decentralization of power does not restrict the rights of citizens, not considered under martial law or a state of emergency and is not a re-review of the same provisions of the Basic Law.
• Slavyansk TPP stopped work due to the inability to establish a coal supply. If coal which was arrested by police officers in the warehouses, as well as the one that is being transported will be used, one power generating unit could operate for several days. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk will call energy crisis management headquarters to fix crisis in the energy sector urgently. According to him, more than half of utility systems are not ready for the winter.
• The Cabinet instructed the "Ukrtransnafta" to transfer technological oil for the production of fuel for the needs of the army and security forces and to create strategic reserves of petroleum products. The company "Ukrnafta" declares its readiness to terminate the mining of the fuel due to the "Ukrtransnafta" failure to receive and transport the oil, despite it was prepaid. As a result the Kremenchug refinery, owned by oligarch Kolomoisky, remained without fuel supply. "Ukrtransnafta" management stated that failure in deliveries caused by the accident on the main oil pipeline. The Volyn regional Court of Appeal ordered the "Ukrtransnafta" to reinstate the manager dismissed in March 2015 by the supervisory board of the company.
• International Club of creditors agreed to write off only about 5% of the state debt of Ukraine, but it is not enough to ensure the timely repayment of obligations. Lenders offer prolong payments and reduce interest payments, but refused to agree to the Ukrainian government which asked to write off 40% of debt.
• IMF provided  the next tranche of a stabilization loan of $ 1.7 billion to Ukraine. The National Bank has significantly strengthened the hryvnia exchange rate: 21.13 UAH/USD (-0.48 UAH), 23.17 UAH/EUR (-0,49 UAH), 3, 50 UAH/RUR 10 (-0.16 UAH). NBU has tightened the sanctions to commercial banks for exceeding the limit of purchases of foreign currency. The interest rate is left unchanged at 30%, which effectively closes the lending to business. NBU explains these measures by the support of the  reducing inflation process.

Ukraine at War

• During the day, the positions and settlements on the territories controlled by Ukraine in Donetsk and Lugansk regions more than 70 times went under fire from heavy weapons and attacks by insurgents. As a result two soldiers were killed and five wounded.
  Militants did not allow inspectors of the OSCE in the area controlled by them in the vicinity of Mariupol threatening them by the weapons.
• The Speaker of the General Staff Seleznev said that President Poroshenko instructed the members of the Minsk negotiations contact group to develop the document on the demilitarization of Shirokino before 3rd of August. At the same time the headquarters of ATO states that only heavy weapons are withdrawn and army units remain in place. Volunteer battalions withdrawn from the front line throughout the front line.
• The Prime Minister Yatsenyuk instructed the Minister of Defence to investigate options and calculate the cost of the transition to a professional army and a new system of mobilization.

Ukraine and the World

• Interpol has decided to decline the request of Georgia to announce ex-president Saakashvili in the international search due to the signs of political persecution.
• Prosecution witness in the Russian court in the case against Ukrainian director Sentsov said that gave testimony under duress and the defendants were not involved in the crime in which they are accused.
• Foreign Ministry announced protest the Russian leadership in regards to the non-admission of the Ukrainian Consul to trials of Ukrainian citizens Sentsov and Savchenko illegally detained by Russian authorities.

The Trends

• Judge of the Constitutional Court Shishkin dismissed by the president of Poroshenko in violation of the Constitution before the expiration of his term in the office, said that the Basic Law in a de facto state of war can not be changed. Shishkin said that the functions of the prefects are not defined clearly, which allows not only supervisory but also governing actions. Adding to the text provision of the special status of Donetsk and Lugansk regions by the presidential administration the night before the vote is the actual surrender to Putin. Criminal proceedings opened against several judges of the Constitutional Court (participation in the usurpation of power by former President Yanukovych) does not give the ground to believe that their conclusions are independent.