Ukraine

Long drawn-out negotiations between Ukraine and the major investors who own its debt are finally starting to thaw, The Wall Street Journal reported. After months of relative stalemate, a group of the conflict-torn country’s creditors has indicated it is willing to take a small reduction in the face value of Ukrainian bonds to speed up a debt restructuring process, according to two people close to the negotiations.

The head of the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday signaled the emergency lender will likely approve a bailout payment for Ukraine despite the failure of Kiev to secure a debt restructuring deal with creditors, The Wall Street Journal reported. IMF staff have already given preliminary approval of the tranche as Kiev moves ahead with promised budget cuts and economic overhauls, but the executive board still needs to give the final green light at a meeting scheduled for Friday.

Ukraine has staved off a default on its $70bn debt pile, rekindling hopes that Kiev can cut a deal with creditors to restructure a substantial proportion of its dues, the Financial Times reported. The cash-strapped eastern European country, which is in the midst of a deep recession and a separatist conflict against Russia-backed rebels, made a $120m interest payment due on Friday as part of its ongoing battle to convince creditors to write down the face value of their holdings. The government originally hoped to strike an agreement to restructure $15.3bn of debt before the summer.

A months-long, multibillion-dollar test of will between Ukraine and its creditors is due to come to a head as Kiev faces a decision to pay up — or default on its $70bn debt pile, the Financial Times reported. The trigger is a $120m interest payment due on Friday by a cash-strapped Ukrainian government that has been trying — so far in vain — to convince creditors to restructure their holdings. The talks have been a key priority for a fledgling government seeking to stabilise an economy that has been rocked by a war against Russian-backed separatists in the east.

Ukraine has extended hastily assembled talks with creditors amid predictions that the country could default as early as Friday if an agreement is not reached, the Financial Times reported. Kiev’s desire to avoid the fate of Greece has encouraged both sides to tone down the combative rhetoric that has dogged negotiations over the past three months. However a principal-to-principal meeting held in Washington last week failed to elicit a deal to restructure Ukraine’s $70bn debt burden, although a joint statement declared that progress had been made.

Ukrainian Eurobonds rose to a five-month high as the nation said progress was made in talks with creditors following a two-month standoff over how to restructure $19 billion of international debt, Bloomberg Business reported. The country’s $2.6 billion of notes due in July 2017 jumped 0.83 cent to 54.08 cents on the dollar at 5:13 p.m. in Kiev, the highest level since Feb. 13.

Nobody knows how the endless dispute will play out between Athens and the European leaders who hold its purse strings. But in Kiev, another European capital in the grip of debt talks, one thing is certain: The Ukrainian government does not want to end up like Greece, squabbling with creditors for years, the International New York Times reported. So, with support from the International Monetary Fund, the Ukrainians are pressing hard to force foreign investors — including Franklin Templeton, a giant bond fund — to accept big losses in an initial bailout deal.

In his 50 years at the state farm here, Volodymyr Polutskiy says his work has dwindled from producing silk for Red Army parachutes to eking out a living chopping wood and growing wheat, The Wall Street Journal reported. Now, Ukraine’s government is trying to sell this farm and hundreds of other state-owned enterprises, hoping that private investment and management will revive the mostly unprofitable businesses and bring funds to its recession-hit budget.

Ukraine's sixteenth largest lender, Financial Initiative Bank, has been declared insolvent, the central bank said on Wednesday, as it pushed ahead with a drive to clean-up the country's financial system. Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, which has agreed a $17.5 billion bailout for Ukraine in exchange for reforms to the over-populated and corrupt system, Kiev has closed more than 50 banks over the past 18 months. That cut the number of active banks by around 25 percent.

The date of the meeting of the Finance Ministry of Ukraine, the IMF and the Creditors' Committee on restructuring Ukraine's debt obligations hasn't been agreed yet, according to a letter released by the committee which Interfax-Ukraine has acquired, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported. "Arrangements are also being made for a meeting between the Committee, Ukraine and the IMF in Washington to take place as soon as possible. No date for this meeting has yet been agreed despite Ukraine's public statements to the contrary.