Ukraine
Zelenskiy meets Macron as Russia engages in a diplomatic dance over a possible Biden-Putin summit
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and to restart the four way talks under the Normandy Format during a trip to Paris to meet with his French counterpart President Emmanuel Macron
NBU hikes rate 100bp to 7.5%
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) raised Ukraine’s prime rate by a full percentage point, to 7.5% on April 16, more than analysts anticipated, after inflationary pressures surged in March.
M&A hits €8.5bn in CEE in Q1, says Mergermarket
Trend towards bigger deals and more fund investment continues, as deal value rises by half to give best Q1 since 2013.
wiiw raises 2021 CEE growth forecast to 3.8%
But pandemic has delayed restart of convergence with Western Europe until 2023.
Kremlin says Putin's attendance at a summit with Biden will depend on Washington’s behaviour
Moscow is going out of its way to make it clear it wants to materially change the way the two countries work together.
MITTELEUROPEAN INSIGHTS: Russian 'sanctions bubble' vs Ukrainian and Turkish fundamentals
For financial market investors, Russia is currently in the same basket as Turkey and Ukraine, but only on a temporary basis.
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Russia’s leading investor relations consultancy hires former Moscow Exchange managing director to boost business development
EM, Russia’s leading communications and investor relations consultancy for clients in Russia, China and other emerging markets, announced the appointment of former Moscow Exchange executive Anna Vasilenko as CEO.
NBU expected to hike rates on rising inflation
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) is expected to raise its prime interest rate on April 15 in order to combat rising inflation, according to a Reuter’s poll of analysts, the newswire reported on April 14.
Ukraine may receive $2.7bn “gift” from IMF this year as coronacrisis support
Ukraine may receive $2.7bn from the IMF this summer under an IMF plan to allocate $650bn from international reserves to restore the world economy after the coronavirus crisis.
TRENIN: Russia-Ukraine war alert – what’s behind it and what lies ahead?
Perhaps the most important thing for the Russian leadership in this episode was to prevent the need to actually go to war against Ukraine in the future. Going for overkill in terms of military manoeuvres now prevents actual war later.
FPRI BMB Ukraine: Minsk peace talks may abandon Minsk
Ukraine has announced that it will not hold further peace talks in Minsk within the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group.
Russia slaps flight restrictions on Turkey after Erdogan backs Ukraine
Kremlin says move is response to Ankara’s worsening coronavirus difficulties but analysts see it as punishment for siding with Kyiv.
Ukraine's consumer price inflation rose to 8.5% y/y in March, making rate hike this week likely
Annual inflation in Ukraine sped up to 8.5% y/y in March from 7.5% y/y in February, the State Statistics Service reported on April 9, making a rate hike at this week’s monetary policy meeting likely, say analysts.
FPRI BMB Ukraine: Turning up the heat in the Donbas and Crimea
For the past couple of weeks, videos have flooded social media showing convoys of Russian military trucks, trains full of tanks, and hordes of helicopters heading toward Ukraine. The question everyone’s asking is: is Russia going to invade Ukraine?
ASH: Ukraine, ask yourself what Putin wants
Russia has the most troops on Ukraine's border than at any time since 2014 but what does Russian President Vladimir Putin actually hope to gain? Tim Ash, Senior Sovereign Strategist at BlueBay Asset Management runs through the possibilities
MOSCOW BLOG: It’s time for a new pan-European security treaty
Five years ago I wrote an op-ed calling for a new pan-European security treaty. The piece opened with these words: “We are in the middle of the worst political crisis since the end of the Cold War and there is a very real possibility of war."
FPRI BMB Ukraine: Zelenskiy-Biden talks
After much anticipation, US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy finally spoke on the phone last Friday.
EWDN: Investment in Ukrainian-founded startups reached record high $571mn in 2020
In 2020, the total VC and PE investment volume in Ukrainian or Ukrainian-founded tech companies reached a record high $571mn, according to a new report from AVentures Capital
COMMENT: Is Ukraine facing an imminent Russian invasion?
Russia will probably not invade, at least in the short term, but it won’t stop threatening Ukraine until it believes that it doesn’t pose a future threat to the current regime in Russia.
STOLYPIN: Talk of renewed war in Ukraine likely Russian coercive diplomacy, but worrying for all that
Russian forces are on the move around Donbas and into Crimea, and the unsettling thing for the outside world is that we don’t know why.
