Ukraine to hike gas rates by 50% for IMF loan. -The IMF programme's approval would set in motion the release of further assistance from both Washington and the European Union.

Ukraine agreed on Wednesday to quickly hike domestic gas prices by as much as 50 percent to meet a key loan condition set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the crisis-hit ex-Soviet state.The new Western-backed government in Kiev is seeking $15-20 billion (11-14.5 billion euros) in IMF assistance in order to balance its books and meet a series of foreign loan repayments.An IMF team met with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kiev on Wednesday for what Ukrainian officials hoped would be a final round of talks before the package is approved in Washington next month.
The Fund has made an immediate end to Ukraine's costly gas subsidies one of its prime conditions for the programme's approval.

It also wants the central bank to stop propping up the Ukrainian currency and for the government to cut down on corruption and red tape.A top official at Ukraine's Naftogaz state energy company said Kiev was willing to raise the price households pay for natural gas by 50 per cent as of May 1.Naftogaz budget and planning director Yury Kolbushkin added that rates for district heating companies would go up by 40 per cent on July 1.Kolbushkin indicated that these prices would increase still further in the coming years."We will publish a document that sets a schedule for rate increases through 2018," Ukrainian media quoted Kolbushkin as saying.Ukraine's central bank has already limited its currency interventions -- a decision that has seen the hryvnia lose 26.4 per cent of its value against the dollar since the start of the year.

• The IMF programme's approval would set in motion the release of further assistance from both Washington and the European Union.

Yatsenyuk said he expected EU officials to send 1.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to Kiev within two months of its approval.The United States has also pledged $1 billion (720 million euros) in loan guarantees while Japan has promised up to $1.5 billion (1.1 billion euros)..........http://www.ellanodikis.net/2014/03/ukraine-to-hike-gas-rates-by-50-for-imf.html
26/3/14

Gazprom to Cancel Gas Discount for Ukraine

GORKI, March 4 (RIA Novosti) – The head of Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom said Tuesday that it will annul its discount on natural gas sales to Ukraine from April, a move that will further stretch Kiev’s teetering finances.
Alexei Miller, who made the announcement while meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev outside Moscow, motivated the decision by pointing out that Ukraine is $1.55 billion in arrears on payments for natural gas deliveries.

“The decision that you have taken about canceling subsidies on deliveries seem, in these conditions, perfectly fair,” Medvedev said.
Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy had as of February 14 paid Gazprom $1.28 billion for gas delivered last year and had asked to postpone payment of what remained until April 15.
Gazprom said in early February that Ukrainian debt for 2013 deliveries stood at $2.63 billion, meaning that Naftogaz had around $1.35 billion still to pay at the middle of the month.
Naftogaz bought around 13 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia in 2013 at the rate of $400 per thousand cubic meters.

That price was substantially reduced in December to $268.5 per thousand cubic meters.
The discount was part of a raft of support mechanisms devised by Russia for Ukraine following the latter’s decision in late November to back away from signing a deal that would have deepened political and economic relations with the European Union.
Under the arrangement between Naftogaz and Gazprom, the size of the discount was to be determined on the first day of every new quarter and formalized within 10 days. Failure to renew the discount deal by April 10 would cause it to cease having effect.
Moscow has so far paid $3 billion out of a promised $15 billion loan, which was to be issued as payment for internationally listed Ukrainian bonds.
Critics of the loan and discount package have argued that it was devised as a bribe to induce Ukraine to cement its ties with Russia, spurn the European Union and defer much-needed structural economic reforms.
The chances of the remainder of the Russian loan being provided looks slim since last month’s ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was chased out of office at the culmination of three months-long protests initially provoked by his decision on the EU deal.
The incoming Ukrainian government confirmed by parliament last month is viewed with deep suspicion by the Kremlin, which has nonetheless vaguely committed to cooperating with the international community on providing its western neighbor with financial assistance.
Interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has warned of his country’s desperate financial state and that unpopular decisions would urgently need to be taken.

• Delegations from the EU and the International Monetary Fund are visiting Ukraine this week to assess the country’s needs as it faces a wave of looming financial and security crises.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20140304/188083296/Gazprom-to-Cancel-Gas-Discount-for-Ukraine.html
4/3/14
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Related:

• Ukraine increases Russian gas imports, braces for hike

• Να ακυρώσει τη συμφωνία «φθηνότερου φυσικού αερίου» με την Ουκρανία μελετά η Gazprom λόγω του τεράστιου χρέους

• Ukraine to ensure uninterrupted transit of Russian gas. – Deputy Premier, Yuri Boiko

ΜΕ ΕΝΤΟΛΗ ΠΟΥΤΙΝ.....Πράσινο φως από Μόσχα για ρύθμιση του κυπριακού δανείου....

Εντολή στην κυβέρνησή του να διαπραγματευθεί την αναδιάρθρωση του ρωσικού δανείου προς την Κύπρο έδωσε ο Βλαντιμίρ Πούτιν, όπως ανακοίνωσε ο εκπρόσωπός του Ντμίτρι Πεσκόφ.

Η ανακοίνωση σηματοδοτεί ουσιαστικά την υποστήριξη της Μόσχας στη συμφωνία Κύπρου - Eurogroup.

Η Κύπρος έχει ζητήσει την παράταση του υφισταμένου δανείου των 2,5 δισεκατομμυρίων ευρώ και μείωση του επιτοκίου του από 4,5% στο 2,5%.


Οι συζητήσεις μεταξύ των δύο πλευρών την περασμένη εβδομάδα είχαν αποτύχει να καταλήξουν σε συμφωνία.

Ο Πούτιν «ανέθεσε στην κυβέρνηση και στο υπουργείο Οικονομικών να επεξεργαστούν με τους εταίρους μας τους όρους μιας αναδιάρθρωσης της πίστωσης που έχει ήδη χορηγηθεί στην Κύπρο», δήλωσε ο Πέσκοφ, τον οποίο επικαλούνται τα ρωσικά πρακτορεία.

http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=22769&subid=2&pubid=63802188
25/3/13
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15:23
PESKOV: PUTIN HAS ORDERED GOVT, FINANCE MINISTRY TO WORK WITH CYPRUS PARTNERS ON CONDITIONS FOR RESTRUCTURING LOAN PROVIDED EARLIER

15:33
Putin orders work on restructuring loan provided by Russia to Cyprus - Peskov

http://www.interfax.com/news.asp
25/3/13
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• Путин поручил правительству проработать вопрос о реструктуризации кредита Кипру в 2,5 млрд долларов....

НОВО-ОГАРЕВО, 25 марта. /Корр.ИТАР-ТАСС Вероника Романенкова/. 

Президент России Владимир Путин поручил "правительству и Министерству финансов РФ проработать с партнерами вопросы реструктуризации ранее предоставленных Кипру кредитов". Об этом журналистам сообщил пресс- секретарь главы государства Дмитрий Песков.

"С учетом решений, принятых еврогруппой, Путин считает возможным поддержать усилия президента Кипра, а также Еврокомиссии, направленные на преодоление кризиса в экономике и банковской системе этого островного государства", - отметил Песков. По его словам, этими соображениями и вызвано данное поручение.

Ранее РФ предоставила Кипру кредит в 2,5 млрд долларов.

http://www.itar-tass.com/c1/686332.html
25/3/13 

Η Ρωσία και η Κύπρος προς το παρόν δεν μπόρεσαν να συμφωνήσουν για το δάνειο......

Οι υπουργοί Οικονομικών της Ρωσίας και της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας δεν κατέληξαν σε οριστική απόφαση για το πρόβλημα του χρέους του νησιώτικου κράτους και οι διαπραγματεύσεις θα συνεχιστούν σε άλλο μέρος, δήλωσε ο υπουργός Οικονομικών της Κύπρου Μιχάλης Σαρρής, που ηγείται της αντιπροσωπείας της χώρας του κατά τη διάρκεια της επίσκεψής του στη Ρωσική Ομοσπονδία.

Η Βουλή των Αντιπροσώπων της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας την Τρίτη απέρριψε το νομοσχέδιο για το αναγκαστικό κούρεμα ενός μέρους των τραπεζικών καταθέσεων με τη μορφή «φόρου».
Οι Αρχές της Κύπρου την Τετάρτη διεξάγουν συνομιλίες με τους εκπροσώπους της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης και της Ρωσίας, προσπαθώντας να σώσουν τη χώρα από τη χρεοκοπία.

.greek.ruvr.ru
20/3/13
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• Russia, Cyprus fail to agree on bailout....

Russian and Cypriot finance chiefs have failed to reach a common ground on the island nation’s bailout at their Moscow meeting, saying the loan talks will continue elsewhere.

Cypriot finance minister Michael Sarris, who led the country’s delegation, said the 1.5-hour negotiations were “fruitful and constructive.”

According to media reports, the Cypriot asked for another loan several billion euros worth in addition to extending the 2.5-billion credit.

In return, Cyprus offered Russia a fair share in its bank and energy assets.
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Ukraine to Get $3.7 Bln Loan From China

KIEV, December 26 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s national energy company Naftogaz will receive a $3.7 billion loan from China to finance a program to substitute gas with coal, the Ukrainian government’s press office said on Wednesday.
“On December 25, 2012, a loan agreement between Natfogaz and State Development Bank of China on financing the program of natural gas substitution with Ukrainian coal worth a total of $3.656 billion against the Ukrainian government’s guarantees was signed in the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Boyko,” the statement said.

The program envisages measures to introduce coal-water fuel technology to domestic heat and power plants, and to build coal-to-gas conversion facilities allowing Ukraine, which is heavily dependent on costly Russian gas imports, to substitute about 4 billion cubic meters of gas with coal. This would save the country $1.5 billion a year on average, the statement said.
Ukraine imports about two-thirds of the gas it consumes from Russia under a 2009 deal that ties the gas price to oil prices, which have risen strongly since 2009, boosting Ukraine's gas bill.
Naftogaz imported Russian gas at $416 per 1,000 cubic meters in the first quarter of this year, at around $425 in the second quarter, at $426 in the third quarter and will have to pay around $432 in the fourth quarter.
Ukraine has long sought to alter the terms of the gas deal it signed with Russia in 2009, insisting on both price and volume cuts, but these attempts have failed to deliver the result desired, prompting the ex-Soviet republic to seek alternative gas supply options to cut its huge energy bill.
.en.rian.ru 
26/12/12