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| The Ministry of Finance published the draft budget for 2016 |
12.01.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency
Topics from Media and Social Networks
- The Ministry of Finance published the draft Tax Code and the draft budget for 2016.
- The Ministry of Finance proposes to legalize gambling again.
- Oligarch Firtash will not come to Ukraine.
Key Events in Ukraine
- Newly appointed anti-corruption prosecutor Kholodnitskiy, said that his first task is to form the structure of the department. According to him, it’s harmful to save on fight against corruption.
- The Court of Appeal upheld the restrain measure in the form of the house arrest until 31 December 2015 for leader of the "Ukrop" party Korban.
- The State Treasury reported that on the single account it accumulated nearly UAH 48 billion , which is a record in the history of Ukraine. The Government explains the growth of balances on the account by receipt of international financial assistance, increase in revenues from the devaluation and inflation and postponement of payments on foreign debts for the future periods.
- Head of the National Bank Gontareva downgraded the forecast for the bank reserves growth by the end of the year due to inability to obtain the next tranche from the IMF, but according to her, the level of $ 13 billion would be sufficient to cover three months of imports.
- The official rate of hryvnia did not change: 23,84 ₴ / $ (-0,11 UAH), 25,27 ₴ / € (-0,06 UAH), 3,60 ₴ / 10 ₽ (+0,02 UAH). The rate in exchange offices and commercial banks, as well as rates in relation to the major currencies used in the calculations of electronic payments exceed the official rate by more than one and a half hryvnia.
Kyiv
- Kyiv City Council started its work. The member of the Petro Poroshenko Blok was elected a secretary of the Council. Representatives of the presidential party were appointed heads of key committees of the Council. Compared to the previous calling, the Council structure changed only slightly.
Ukraine at War
- In the combat zone in the Donbass shellings of the positions of the Ukrainian Army in the vicinity of Donetsk and Gorlovka do not stop . At night there was a fight near Avdeevka. According to official reports, as a result of the accident when military truck tripped a landmine near Granite one soldier was killed , one more was seriously injured.
Ukraine and the World
- In the tripartite talks on the free trade zone, Ukrainian delegation rejected Russia's claim to impose additional duties on some European goods. Ukraine is also not going to abandon the transition to European standards. A free trade zone with the European Union will come into effect from January 1, 2016.
- The foreign ministers of the NATO countries adopted at the summit in Brussels the updated concept of hybrid threats counteraction, which stipulates increased interaction of the Alliance and the EU. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said that Russia's actions on Ukrainian territory, the growth of its military presence in other regions, carry a risk for the security of the Alliance members.
- According to German Foreign Minister Steinmeier, to mitigate the escalation between the West and Russia and to prevent the dangerous situations, it is necessary to restore the NATO-Russia Council.
The Trends
- Nine EU countries are opposing the construction of the second stage of the "Nord Stream" pipeline , as it will increase Europe's dependence on Russian energy supplies. Due to the fact that the construction of the second stage of the "Turkish stream" is actually frozen, the most likely channel for transporting natural gas to Europe will remain the Ukrainian GTS. The Russian Federation announced about the continuation of work on the "Turkish Stream", but Turkey is looking for options to increase the supply of natural gas from Iran and Azerbaijan.
- Leader of the Crimean Tatar activists - coordinator of energy and trade blockade - Islyamov said that Ukraine does not have the support of the international community regarding the Crimea because of the absence of a clear government strategy on de-occupation. Public organization, "Maidan of Foreign Affairs”, proposed step by step plan for the return of the peninsula, but the Government and the President ignored its offers .
