Archive for the ‘Essential’ Category

The Ukrainian currency is currently trading a historic low of 6.877 UAH to the dollar. The drop has been caused by a run on the banks with many Ukrainians, fearful of economic collapse, converting their money into dollars and other foreign currencies.

Ukraine has been hit particularly hard by the global credit crunch and a rapid fall in demand for its steel, one of its major exports. Many Ukrainians also have bitter memories of losing their savings in financial chaos of the early 1990s.

Ukraine is currently in talks with the European Union to obtain visa-free entry for its citizens to EU countries. It hopes it will secure a deal by 2012, the year it co-hosts the European football championships.

The Ukrainian dropped visa requirements for residents of the EU visiting Ukraine in 2007.

Former Beatles’ member Paul McCartney will perform on Independence Square on June 14. The Independence Concert will be free to attend and has been funded and organised by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

McCartney said ‘I’m very excited because on the 14th of June I’ve been invited to play a concert in Independence Square, Kiev. Me and the band are going to be there and we’re going to have to a great evening and we hope to see you there. So come along, it’s going to be great evening hopefully for the Ukraine. Pull together, groove, rock and roll – all together.’

There will also be an exhibition of 40 of McCartney’s paintings at the Pinchuk Art Centre at Arena.

George Bush will make his first official state visit to Ukraine at the end of this month. He will arrive in Kiev on March 31 and spend two days in the capital before departing for the NATO summit in Bucharest. During the visit he will meet with Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko. Ukraine’s proposed membership of NATO will be discussed by the two leaders.

Russian state-run gas company Gazprom cut gas supplies to the Ukraine by 25 percent yesterday after Ukraine failed settle its debts by the deadline announced last week.

Russian gas supplier Gazprom has threatened (yet again) to cut gas supplies to Ukraine. The move comes just 2 weeks after the Russian and Ukrainian governments had appeared to reach an agreement over unpaid debts. The state-run supplier says that supplies will be reduced from March 3 unless Ukraine signs agreements to settle debts estimated at over $1 billion.

Ukraine will become a full member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on February 7 2008. Membership of the WTO, an international organisation promoting free trade and the lowering of trade barriers, has long been a key foreign policy objective of the Ukrainian government.

Thirty percent of Ukrainians pay bribes to officials according to a survey released yesterday by Transparency International, the global organisation dedicated to fight corruption. The Global Corruption Barometer placed Ukraine in the second quintile of countries most affected by bribery, along with Lithuania, Moldova, and Serbia. The most corrupt European countries were Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo and Romania.

In the Ukraine, most bribes were paid for educational qualifications, health services, to police and legislators, and to the tax authorities. The survey also revealed that 82 percent of respondents thought corruption in Ukraine would increase or stay the same.

The Ambassador of China to Ukraine was hospitalised yesterday after a Range Rover coming off the pavement smashed into his car near Shota Rustaveli. Kiev’s pavements are commonly viewed as an extra lane by many drivers, particularly those with expensive cars.

Mercer, the consulting arm of Marsh & McLennan, forecasts a 10 percent increase in Ukrainian salaries for 2008. They will however be matched by similar increase in inflation, resulting in no net gain in wealth for workers. The figures were released in the company’s Annual Worldwide Pay Survey, published yesterday.