Hryvnia devalutation almost a certainty before the year end

On 2nd January 2012, I wrote this, stating that the Hryvnia needed to devalue to between UAH 10 or UAH 11 to US$ 1 by mid 2013. Since then I wrote this, on 1st July 2012 stating it would need to devalue to UAH 9 to US$1 by the end of 2012 and this on […]

After the elections - Is what happens to Ukraine that important to its neighbours?

Naturally there is a lot of interest in the forthcoming elections in Ukraine - particularly so by its immediate neighbours.  To be frank, there always has been since independence was dumped in the lap of Ukraine. In fact the degree of meddling, both overtly, covertly, cleverly, clumsily, diplomatically and politically, either through direct channels or […]

Currency wars over Ukraine?

Well, I was hoping to write something truly interesting from the meeting between the CIS Prime Ministers that has been held over the past few days in Yalta. Unfortunately, not much worthy of real comment has been said or done - unless you want to include the nearing ascension of Kazakhstan and then Kyrgyzstan as […]

Mass privatisation ahead for Ukraine?

For those of you who follow me on twitter and in particular followed a conversation between Alex Nice (@AlexNicest) and myself (@OdessaBlogger) a few days ago, then the start of this blog entry is more of a summary of what was said - but don’t simply pass - it goes on to new ground that […]

Russian Defence Ministry formally complains to Ukraine of UESU debt

Well it was bound to happen eventually and really there is no surprise it is happening now. Ms Tymoshenko’s activities and those of her former company, United Energy Systems of Ukraine, will now come under further scrutiny as the Russian Defence Ministry has now lodged a formal complaint with Kyiv over an outstanding debt which […]

Securities as instuments of tax evasion - Ukraine

Well who would have thought it? Banks and financial instruments being used to avoid tax! Well yes, we all would have thought it.  We’ve all got fairly used to the idea that banks, financial markets and financial instruments are not the bastions of goodly deeds - regardless of which bank it is, where ever it […]

Tax Service statements are as unclear as the tax laws it seem

The Ukrainian tax laws, whilst recently revamped and somewhat easier to follow than they once were, are still a labyrinth set with multiple traps for the unwary. That said, there is a very large proportion of Ukrainian society that simply ignore the tax laws at any given opportunity due to the varying shades of grey […]

Ukrainian Cypriot relations

The EU’s very naughty boy, the offshore tax haven of Cyprus, and Ukraine are getting ever more friendly. Last week, the Cypriot President paid his first ever visit to Ukraine, and this whilst Cyprus is also holding the EU Presidency. Amongst the somewhat more bizarre things to happen whilst in Ukraine, President Chrsitofias was given […]

Devaluation pressure on the hryvnia continues

I am not an economist, nor am I a banker, financial analyst, Forex trader, or a particularly interested fiscal and monetary watcher. However, I have mentioned the devaluation of the Hryvnia several times in the past 12 months, most recently here, and maybe somewhat bravely (or foolishly) predicted a Hryvnia/US$ rate of 9.5 - 10 […]

Immediate benefits? Ukraine and CIS FTA ratification

Regular readers of this blog will recall a post I wrote not so long ago relating to the Russian led Customs Union and the Vietnamese accession talks due to begin as early as September this year. Well, a week or so ago, Ukraine did indeed ratify a free trade agreement with the Customs Union. As […]