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The Regions This Week
March 23, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Eastern Europe
The cost of the economic reforms announced
by Russian President Vladimir Putin during
his controversial state of the nation speech is RUB20.5 trillion ($355bn), more than this year’s entire budget spending plan, according to a report by Rosbank.
The Ukrainian parliament stripped former helicopter pilot and Russian political prisoner Nadezhda Savchenko of her MP’s immunity and arrested her on charges of plotting a coup.
Russia’s industrial output growth slowed to 1.5% y/y in February in a surprise result. This was significantly lower than the consensus 2.7% forecasts and the growth rate seen in January (2.9%).
Belarus' GDP grew by 5.6% y/y in January- February, following 4.6% y/y growth in January, the national statistics agency Belstat reported. The industrial output of Belarus jumped by 10.3% y/y in January-February. Belarus' economy is performing better than expected.
Ukraine has reached the trade levels seen before Russia’s 2014 attacks on Ukraine, according to Natalia Mykolska, Ukraine’s chief trade negotiator. In the last three years, the EU has replaced Russia as Ukraine’s top trading partner, accounting for last year for 40.4% of trade.
The CEO of state-owned retail behemoth Sberbank German Gref promises to pay "very serious dividends" for 2017 during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 21. Lasst year it paid 35% of profits but will decide in April if will increase this to 50%.
Russia’s grain exports may reach up to 53mn tonnes in the 2017-2018 agricultural year, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said.
Ukraine’s economy grew by 2.5% in 2017, the State Statistics Service reported. This is better than the provisional estimate of 2.2%, and slightly better that the final growth rate for 2016 – 2.4%. In 2018, the IMF and the National Bank predict Ukraine's economy will grow by 3.2%, while the World Bank’s forecast is 3.5%.
Leading commercial bank Rosbank heads the list of Russia’s most stable banks, according to a Forbes magazine article. Last year Russian state-owned retail behemoth Sberbank topped the list, and while it is still by far the most profitable bank in Russia it has fallen to fourth place.
Ukraine’s largest steelmaker Metinvest announced a cash tender offer to purchase the METINV'21 Eurobond, and its intention to issue new Eurobonds, simultaneously asking noteholders to consent to the restructuring of the METINV'21 Eurobond.
Novatek has developed its own LNG gas liquefaction technology. The privately owned gas producer received a patent for the technology, which will be used at its Yamal LNG plant.
Russia surprised with retail sales which weakened to a seven-month low of 1.8% y/y, down from 2.8% y/y in January, well below consensus expectations of 3.0% y/y. That was despite the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate edging down from 5.2% to 5.0% – the lowest rate since March 2014.
One of Russia's top four steel makers Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK)
is preparing to come back to the Eurobond markets with its first issue in almost a decade. The issuer is practically debt free with $0.5bn in debt and $0.5bn in cash at the end of 2017.