KIEV, May 22 – The deficit of the current account of Ukraine's balance of payments, taking into account the strengthening of the hryvnia exchange rate, could be around $20 billion in 2008, according to the deputy head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Oleksandr Savchenko.

KIEV, May 22 – The revaluation of Ukraine's national currency, the hryvnia, is a first step to curbing inflation, yet non-monetary measures are also needed, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services believes.

KIEV/MOSCOW, May 23 - Severstal Metiz, the metal ware division of Russian steel major Severstal, plans to invest $27.4 million in its Ukrainian unit Dniprometiz in the period to 2012, said Dniprometiz General Director Dmytro Serheyev.

KIEV, May 23 - Azerbaijan agreed to supply 470,000 tons of Caspian Sea crude to fill Ukraine’s Odessa-Brody pipeline to replace the Russian oil that currently fills the pipeline, President Viktor Yushchenko said Friday.

KIEV, May 24 ??“ AutoKrAZ, Ukraine's only truck producer, in autumn 2006 plans to enter international capital markets via selling Eurobonds or attracting direct syndicated credits, the company's financial director, Yaroslav Bondarenko, said.

KIEV, May 25 ??“ The creation of a free trade zone between the GUAM countries, including Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, may damage Ukrainian agriculture, Vice-President of the Research Center for Corporate Relations Rostyslav Ischenko said.

KIEV, May 24 - Ukraine's exports of arms and military services rose 5% on the year to about $680 million in 2005, Valentyn Badrak, director of the Ukrainian Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies, said.

KIEV, May 25 ??“ The independent rating agency Credit-Rating (Kiev) has put up for review the long-term credit rating uaAA earlier assigned to the state-owned Naftogaz Ukrayiny, having changed the rating forecast for "developing," the agency reported Tuesday, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

KYIV, April 24 – The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) will reduce the key policy rate at a meeting on Thursday from 14.5% to 14%, predicts the majority of bankers surveyed by the Interfax-Ukraine agency, although bolder estimates are also heard - up to 13.5% and even 13% per annum.

KYIV, April 24 – Japan intends to increase its presence in the investment market of Ukraine. In particular, to expand business ties in the investment and trade spheres, Japanese partners will open an office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Kyiv, as reported by Ukraine's Ministry of Economy following a meeting on April 23 between Deputy Minister, Trade Representative Taras Kachka and the Economic Mission of the Government of Japan.