KIEV, Oct. 21 – The debt of municipal heat supply companies to Gaz Ukrayiny for natural gas consumed since the start of the previous heating season (from Oct. 1, 2008) totals UAH 2.54 billion, and the level of its payment is 72%, the company reported on Tuesday.

KIEV, Oct. 21 – Ukraine’s banks have started cutting interest rates on short-term deposits in hryvnias and on one-year deposits in foreign currency, representatives of commercial banks told Interfax-Ukraine.

"One cannot say that now a common trend of interest rate falls in banks is seen. It's likely that the trend is the following: some large banks launched short-term deposit products in hryvnias with interest rates that were higher than those on the market, and now they have fallen to a market level.

KIEV, Oct. 21 – Ukraine and Belarus have prolonged a contract on commercial supplies of two billion kWh of electricity in 2010, the press service of First Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Turchynov reported.

KIEV, Oct. 21 – Ferrero Group, the world’s No. 4 confectionary producer, is in a fierce legal battle with a Russian company as it tries to protect the use of its trademark in Ukraine.

The case, involving Ferrero and Landrin of St. Petersburg, will be heard by the Supreme Economic Court on October 27 and will send a signal whether Ukraine can protect intellectual property.

KIEV, Oct. 20 – The Ukrainian Association of Ferroalloy Producers (UkrFA) and the Ukrainian Association of Ferrous Metals Producers (UkrMet) plan to unite in order to jointly draw up ways to overcome the crisis in the domestic metals sector.

KIEV, Oct. 20 – The tougher sanctions foreseen in new agreements on gas supplies are needed to improve the discipline of gas consumption and payment for it, Naftogaz Ukrayiny told Interfax-Ukraine.

ZAPORIZHIA, Oct. 21 – Zaporizhia Aluminum Combine (ZAlK), the country's only aluminum smelter, forecasts losses of $10 million in October, according to its leadership.

LONDON, Oct. 21 - International rating agency Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the global local currency (GLC) deposit ratings and the National Scale Ratings (NSRs) of 12 Ukrainian banks.

Moody's said in a press release that it had "also changed the outlook to stable from positive on the B2 long-term global foreign currency (GFC) deposit ratings of 21 Ukrainian banks."

KIEV, Oct. 18 - Citibank is holding talks on the purchase of Ukraine's Delta Bank, the Ukrainian newspaper Ekonomicheskiye Izvestiya reported, citing an informed source close to Citibank management.

KIEV, Oct. 18 – There are economic grounds for strengthening the hryvnia, although the economy's reaction to such a move should be taken into account when setting policy, said National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Volodymyr Stelmakh.