KIEV, May 19 – President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday urged the government to amend the 2009 budget in order to prevent increasing reliance on inflationary money printing for covering Ukraine’s burgeoning budget deficit.

KIEV, May 19 – President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday appointed Vira Ulianchenko, a long-time ally, as his chief of staff, replacing Viktor Baloha at the critical post, which largely defines the president’s domestic policy.

KIEV, May 19 – The government will not suspend its earlier decision to cancel the offshore oil exploration and production license for U.S. oil company Vanco Energy, a senior official said Monday.

KIEV, May 19 – The hryvnia rose sharply against the U.S. dollar on Monday following comments from a senior official at the National Bank of Ukraine that the bank will soon stop intervening on the currency market by buying excessive hard currency.

KIEV, May 18 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s government, at an emergency meeting Monday, postponed indefinitely the privatization of Odessa Portside Plant, a lucrative exporter of fertilizers, easing tensions with President Viktor Yushchenko.

KIEV, May 17 ??“ The growth of foreign direct investments (FDIs) in Ukraine in Q1 was estimated at $235 million, 8.6% over the same period last year and 61% down on the previous quarter.

KHARKIV, May 18 ??“ The state-owned Naftogaz Ukrayiny has started drawing on the ?2 million credit line opened by Deutschebank for the company, Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Ivchenko said in Kharkiv, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

KIEV, May 18 ??“ Foreign Affairs Minister Boris Tarasiuk is currently in Baku discussing urgently needed imports of gasoline from Azerbaijan to alleviate fuel shortages that are sweeping Ukraine, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Wednesday.

KIEV, May 18 - Ukraine??™s anti-cartel authority has launched investigations against Russian oil companies Lukoil and TNK-BP to determine whether the two had used their market dominance to overcharge clients, Oleksiy Kostusev, the head of the Anti-Monopoly Committee, said Wednesday.

KIEV, May 18 - President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday signed into law a bill that lifts duties on imports of gasoline and diesel fuel and cuts excise taxes on these commodities, the presidential press service reported.