KIEV, April 18 – Ukraine's economy will fall 3% this year and rise 1.7% in 2015, according to estimates put forth in the government's draft budget for 2015.

Inflation is projected at 12% this year and 5.4% in 2015, according to the document.

ASTRAKHAN, April 18 - Lukoil still plans to launch Karpatnaftokhim, a petrochemical plant in Ukraine, the Russian oil company's president, Vagit Alekperov told reporters.

KIEV, April 18 – Trade unions have called on coalminers, including DTEK, not to fall for provocations and interfere in "political games."

"They are trying to involve miners working in Donbas in political tricks. In this situation we're obliged not to fall for provocations, control our emotions and do our work – extract coal," reads an address of some regional heads of the independent trade union of miners and the trade union of coal industry workers.

KIEV, April 18 – The State Land Bank of Ukraine will start actively operating in H2, Chairperson Svitlana Skosyrska said.

"After obtaining a banking license and until the moratorium on the sale and purchase of farmland is lifted, the State Land Bank will boost its assets, create infrastructure at the local level and provide a standard set of financial services to farmers," she said in an interview with the Capital publication issued on Wednesday.

KIEV, April 19 – ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal has met with Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkul to discuss issues concerning the operation of the largest mining and smelting mill in Ukraine – ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih (earlier Kryvorizhstal, Dnipropetrovsk region) and the situation in the mining and metal sector of Ukraine.

KIEV, April 21 – The first stage of the modernization of the Ukrainian gas transport system will start this summer, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economic Development Minister Andriy Kliuyev said at a meeting with European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs.

KIEV, April 21 – Saudi Arabia will donate $20 million towards the international effort to seal Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, increasing the total size of the fund to $810 million, the Ukrainian foreign ministry reported.

YALTA, April 19 – The use of the national currencies of the CIS states in trade is becoming a more urgent issue, but progress in this direction is restrained by several factors, Deputy National Bank of Ukraine Governor Ihor Sorkin said.

KIEV, April 21 – Mohammad Zahoor, the owner of the Kyiv Post, a Ukrainian English-language newspaper, wants to sell the newspaper for $2.4 million as it is not profitable, Kommersant Ukraine reported on Thursday.

KIEV, April 21 – UAH 7 billion will be invested in the development of alternative energy this year, according to Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Boyko.