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River delta. Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krikliy told NV Biznes: “It is unlikely that anyone will go there for concession. They are very unprofitable. They no longer have enough money for the payroll.” Last month, foreign companies won tenders for concessions to run two seaports – Kherson and Olvia.
Starting in May, the first properties of Ukrspyrt, the former state alcohol monopoly, are to be privatized through ProZorro, the electronic auction house.​ Over the next year, the State Property Fund will sell off all 41 properties, ranging from abandoned buildings to fully functioning alcohol distilleries. In December, when the Rada abolished the state alcohol monopoly, an audit discovered that only one third of Ukrspyrt’s plants were functioning. The government hopes to earn as much as $100mn from the sale.
6.2 ​Debt
DEBT 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017E*
External debt (US$bn, 80 101.7 103.4 117.3 126.2 134.6 142.1 126.3 118.7 113.6 124.2 eop)
External debt (% of 55.8 55.3 91 86.1 77.4 77.3 79.1 96.2 130.4 121.7 126.6 ann'd GDP, eop)
FX reserves (US$bn, 32.5 31.5 26.5 34.6 31.8 24.5 20.4 7.5 12.4 11.9 15.6 eop)
FX reserves (% of 22.6 17.2 23.3 25.4 19.5 14.1 11.4 5.7 13.6 12.8 13.3 ann'd GDP, eop)
External debt / FX 2.5 3.2 3.9 3.4 4 5.5 7 17.7 9.6 9.5 8.0 reserves (x, eop)
FX reserves imports 5.6 3.9 5.9 6 4.1 2.9 2.5 1.3 3.3 3.6 3.3 cov (months)
Source: ICU
7.0​ FX
Foreign banks are expected to enter Ukraine’s foreign exchange market this year, ​Oleh Churiy, a deputy governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, said on February 16 at a meeting with the European Business Association. Commenting on the central bank’s decision last week to allow foreign banks to trade in hryvnia, he said: “We expect that by the end of the year five or six foreign banks will enter the market and start [forex] trading.” Separately, the central bank reported that foreign holdings of Ukrainian domestic bonds has hit 127bn UAH, or $5.2bn. This represents 15.7% of the market.
The hryvnia officially trades at 25 to the dollar n January, down 5.7% from the start of January​. Central bank deputy governor Dmitry Sologub attributed the January drop to cyclical reasons: companies paying dividends
34​ UKRAINE Country Report​ March 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com