KIEV, April 2 – Ukraine’s high pace of inflation this year was “unacceptable” and was likely to hit 17% on the year in December, according to the International Monetary Fund.

KIEV, April 3 ??“ France hopes for rapid advances in economic cooperation with Ukraine in priority sectors such as energy and transport, president of the committee for Ukrainian issues of the French Business Confederation MEDEF International, Jacques Saade, said Tuesday.

KIEV, April 3 ??“ RusAl, the major Russian aluminum producer, postponed plans for building a smelter in Ukraine as the high price of power would make the smelter unprofitable, a senior company official said.

KHARKIV, April 3 ??“ ElektroTiazhmash, a heavy power equipment producer, has signed contracts worth around $50 million, according to first deputy director general of Elektrotiazhmash Volodymyr Hlushakov.

KIEV, April 1 ??“ UkrGazVydobuvannia, the biggest gas extraction company in Ukraine, is planning to increase gas extraction by 300 million to 400 million cubic meters this year, Director General Illia Rybchych announced, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, April 1 ??“ Even though the work Lysychansk oil refinery (Linos) will be halted from April 9 to May 13 for its annual overhaul, this will not push fuel prices in Ukraine up, TNK-Ukraine Trading House Ltd. spokeswoman Iryna Kovalchuk said.

MYKOLAYIV, April 1 - Mykolayiv Alumina Works is going to increase production of alumina by 3.3% in 2005 to 1.345 million tons from 1.302 million tons in 2004, Maksym Krupynkov senior expert of the company production department??™s technical development team said in Mykolayiv, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

KIEV, April 1 - Foyil Securities and Rubicon Capital have announced that they are to merge and form one of the biggest investment companies in Ukraine.

KYIV, March 3 - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised downward the forecast for Ukraine's economic growth in 2025, reducing it by 0.5 percentage points (p.p.) compared to the previous forecast - to 2-3%, the fund said in a press release following the results of the mission's work on the seventh review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

KYIV, March 3 – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff and the Ukrainian authorities have reached staff level agreement (SLA) on the Seventh Review of the four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Arrangement worth $15.5 billion, which subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board, paves the way for the eighth tranche of about $400 million (SDR 300 million), bringing the total disbursements under the program to $10.1 billion.