The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Coal Energy S.A., a Luxemburg company with assets in Ukraine, signed documents on a $70 million financing.

"The successful realization of the project shows that private companies such as Coal Energy have real chances for raising funds on the favorable conditions, despite the complicated situation on the capital markets," the director of the investment and banking department at Dragon Capital Investment Company, Mykhailo Hranchak said.

Ukraine’s economy will fall 1.3% this quarter, before growing 2-2.5% next year, mainly thanks to growth in industry and agriculture, Dragon Capital CEO Tomas Fiala said.

He said that next year the fall in the construction sector and industry will slow.

Dragon Capital comments on the news: The downgrade by S&P followed a similar move by Moody’s on Dec. 6 (one-notch rating reduction to B3 with negative outlook maintained). As S&P’s Ukraine rating became two notches higher than Moody’s after Dec. 6, the one-notch downward adjustment that followed was quite logical and expected by us. Both agencies cited growing concerns over Ukraine’s external liquidity position and economic policy uncertainty among the key reasons for the downgrade.

Ukraine’s significant external financing needs in 2013 seem to be a well-known issue for the investor community, but abundant global liquidity has supported investors’ risk perception. However, investors’ tolerance may evaporate quickly if Ukraine’s economic policies remain uncertain in the coming months. In particular, any further delay in negotiations with the IMF (which is likely to trigger another rating downgrade) may compound negative sentiment towards Ukraine and cause Eurobond spreads and CDS to widen more significantly.

Ukrainian officials often shy away from attending investment and business conferences. While some notable exceptions exist, the rare appearances are still too often limited to delivering some platitudes and leaving.

Andrey Bespyatov, president of CFA Ukraine, said the financial institution’s annual investor conference, held Nov. 21, was ignored by major Ukrainian government officials. They found Polish and Georgian officials, by contrast, much more receptive to coming.

Tomas Fiala, CEO of investment bank Dragon Capital, said members of the current government of President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov are doing a better job of showing up than previous governments.

“There are quite a few ministers that usually try to participate and give good presentations,” Fiala said.

State oil and gas monopoly Naftogaz Ukrainy has announced a tender to purchase two semi-submersible drilling rigs to explore and develop primarily the Palas gas field as well as the Prykerchenska, Skiffska, and Forosska fields.

"In December 2010 Naftogaz and Gazprom agreed to create a JV to develop the Palas gas field which lies on the border of Russia and Ukraine. Progress was initially weak but in January 2012 Gazprom and Naftogaz decided to intensify cooperation", says Dennis Sakva, Senior Analyst, Dragon Capital.

“For today, this crop has been harvested mainly in those regions where it ripens earlier and has a smaller yield because of low rainfall”

The average corn yield reduced by over 30% against the previous year, due to this, total grain yield may appear to be 4.6% less against the previous year yield, Tamara Levchenko, senior analyst of Dragon Capital Investment Company said.

"Domestic gas consumption totaled 2.1 bcm in August (-15% y-o-y and +6% m-o-m) as industrial consumers cut gas use by 18% y-o-y to 1.4 bcm", says Dennia Sakva, Senior Analyst, Dragon Capital.