The National Bank of Ukraine -- the Central Bank of Ukraine -- is very conservative. Unlike other CBs in CIS countries -- Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia -- it does not have a strong research department and does not have western PhD trained staff. When things looked good the NBU was efficient in every day routine management but when the financial crisis reached Ukraine they really had no clue of how to manage it. It will be interesing to learn what is the opinion of international auditors on the actions of the NBU:

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — International auditors will probe the actions of Ukraine's central bank during the ongoing financial crisis in an effort to counter accusations of mismanagement and corruption at the bank, a bank official said Wednesday.

Hong Kong in Ukraine?

Michael Perelman reports:

 

Romer is suggesting that less developed countries contract with capitalist nations to set up Hong Kong’s for them.

"Romer suggests that we rethink sovereignty (respect borders, but maybe import administrative control); rethink citizenship (support residency, but maybe import voice in political affairs); and rethink scale (instead of focusing on nations, focus on cities—on city states like Hong Kong and Singapore.)

Paul Romer proposes that developing countries could invite instant Hong Kongs—new cities in new locations run by experienced governments such as Canada or Finland.  They would enrich the country where they are built as special economic zones while also rewarding the distant government that makes the investment of building the new city state and installing a set of fair and productive rules.  Over time, as with Hong Kong, the new city is turned over to the host country.

The idea is getting some traction in the developing world.  This summer Romer is going public with a Bridge Cities Institute website for further exploration and eventual application of the idea."

 

I would build a brand new city somewhere in Crimea or on the Black Sea coast in Nikolaev or Odessa region under jurisdiction of EU. It is similar to Free Economic Zones but with right of control of foreign government rather then local authorities.

CIS in 1st quarter of 2009

In% relative to the first quarter of 2008

	GDP in constant prices	Industrial production in constant prices	Index of producer prices	CPI	Retail sales in constant prices)
Azerbaijan	104,1	97,8	60,6	108,3	110,0
Belarus	101,1	95,5	120,9	115,4	105,9
Armenia	93,9	90,5	92,6	102,0	103,9
Georgia	...	…	96,3	102,7	…
Kazakhsatn	95,5	95,4	71,4	108,8	96,6
Kyrgystan	...	80,5	114,3	116,2	100,8
Moldova	107,2	75,8	96,7	103,2	95,7
Russia	87,7	85,7	94,3	113,7	98,9
Tajikistan	103,5	91,8	86,1	110,7	116,2
Uzbekistan	107,9	109,9	…	…	…
Ukraine	...	68,1	117,3	120,4	88,2
CIS	89	85	96	114	98

Ukraine expands its trade with China and India

Despite 40% decrease in value of trade in the first quarter of 2009 relative to the first quarter of 2008, Ukrainian exports to India  and China has been tripled. The largest drop in exports occured with Americas (by 70%), Russia (54%) and with Europe (by 45%)

External trade of Ukraine

Worst days are over?

Phoenix Capital reports

Аналитики: Для украинской металлургии буря уж�:

"Основные тенденции апреля:

- Спрос на украинскую металлопродукцию увеличивался, главным обра­зом, в сегменте длинномерного проката;

- Азовсталь, АрселорМиттал Кривой Рог и Енакиевский металлургический завод увеличили суточную выплавку стали, в то время как остальные круп­ные производители существенно сократили объемы производства;

- Стоимость сырья (за исключением коксующегося угля) снижалась

...

Ожидания на май-июнь:

- Рост спроса и цен на длинный и плоский прокат продолжится;

- Основными рынками сбыта для отечественных металлопроизводителей останутся Турция и другие страны Ближнего Востока, а также страны Юго-Восточной Азии;

- Большинство металлургических комбинатов не снизят объемов производ­ства в мае; ММК Ильича, Запорожсталь и Алчевский МК, вероятно, увели­чат выплавку стали на 8-10% уже в мае;

- Низкие цены на сырье позволят отечественным металлопроизводителям сохранить конкурентоспособность на зарубежных рынках;

- Крупнейшие меткомбинаты останутся прибыльными, рентабельность по EBITDA в мае-июне составит около 15-20%.

At the same time on year-to-year basis, export in the first quarter is 40% lower than in 2008