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held by the NBU. Meanwhile, the NBU increased gross reserves by $50mn via the purchase of dollars on the forex market.
“In April, government outlays related to debt repayment and servicing will be moderate (about $380mn) which can be potentially offset by new dollar borrowings on the local market. We do not expect any large forex operations by the NBU this month, so if there is no other decline in the value of the NBU’s portfolio, Ukraine’s gross reserves are likely to be flat m/m by the end of April,” an analyst at the Kyiv-based Concorde Capital brokerage said in a research note.
5.3 FDI
“How Ukraine Lost it Investment Paradise,” headlined an article in the National Interest that blames the nation’s plummeting foreign investment on “Ukrainian authorities [falling] into the same trap of keeping their system semi-reformed, leaving Ukraine in economic and social stagnation.”
Foreign direct investment fell from $4.5bn in 2019 to $400mn last year,
the authors charge: “Ukraine’s top echelon has been sliding back to corruption after short reboot attempts undertaken during fall 2019—winter 2020.”
The piece was written by Oleksiy Honcharuk, Ukraine’s Prime Minister until one year ago and Roman Waschuk, the Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine until 2019.
35 UKRAINE Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com