"The net loss in the banking sector last year was due to the considerably poor results of a few banking institutions. The majority of banks showed profits. The increase in bad loans has tapered off and we even have observed a decrease in their share in the general portfolio," stated Anastasia Tuyukova, an analyst at Dragon Capital According to the NBU, troubled loan debts decreased over the past year by 6.6% (by UAH 5.6 bn) amounting to UAH 79.3 bn. The majority of banks has completed the formation of reserves to cover bad loans and therefore can afford to considerably reduce expenditures.

Whether Ukraine can successfully sell debt abroad depends on foreign-investor appetite and the government’s readiness to accept higher borrowing costs, Olena Bilan, chief economist at Dragon Capital in Kiev, wrote in a Feb. 10 note.

Denis Sakva, an analyst with Ukrainian brokerage Dragon Capital, said the gas price issue was unlikely to be settled before the March 4 presidential elections in Russia, which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is widely expected to win.

Ukrainian companies are catching on. Some four months before the official beginning of the championship, the majority of corporate packages have been sold to international and local companies of different sizes. Among the customers are leading Ukrainian investment bank Dragon Capital and telecom company Datagroup.

Despite low production costs and a quarter of the world’s most fertile land, Ukraine’s yields are still twice lower than in Europe, according to Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital, owing to outdated organizational and production methods.

According to the estimates of Dennis Sakva, senior analyst at Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital, the privatizations have put DTEK in control of 33 percent of the country’s total generation capacity and 28 percent of electricity generated. As for thermal generation, the holding now controls 54 percent of installed capacity and nearly 70 percent of domestic sales on the competitive segment of the market.

"The approved bill is highly positive for domestic agricultural producers and exporters," said Tamara Levchenko, an analyst at Dragon Capital investment bank.