Kyiv cuts interest rate after inflation slows:
By RFE/RL
Ukraine's central bank has trimmed its benchmark interest rate, citing a "steady disinflation trend," or a slowdown in inflation.
The National Bank of Ukraine announced on May 26 that the key policy rate was cut to 18 percent from 19 percent.
The rate was cut from 22 percent to 19 percent in April.
"The disinflation was defined by weak domestic consumer demand, tight monetary policy, and an appreciation of the hryvnya [currency] in recent months," the bank said in a statement.
In the first quarter of this year, gross domestic product grew by a "modest" 0.1 percent from a year earlier, the bank said, "reflecting weaker recovery in domestic demand.
The bank kept its 2016 inflation goal of 12 percent, after consumer prices rose 9.8 percent from a year earlier in April, slowing from almost 21 percent the previous month. (w/Bloomberg)
More on EU sanctions on Russia being renewed:
In an interview released on May 26, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the EU was facing difficult talks on extending the measures due to the resistance of some member states
"It will be more difficult than it was last year to find a common position on this issue," Steinmeier told the Baltic News Service. (AFP)
Kremlin: Savchenko's release won't help warm EU-Russia ties:
Russia says the release of Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko after nearly two years in captivity is unlikely to help improve Moscow's relations ties with the European Union.
Savchenko returned home on May 25 after being exchanged for two Russians held by Ukraine.
"The return of our guys to Moscow and the pardoning of Savchenko and her return to Kyiv can hardly be considered as something that is able to significantly change the current atmosphere, which of course we would like to see as more constructive," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on May 26.
Savchenko's handover, which had been demanded by the West, comes a few weeks before the EU decides whether to extend sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
The measures, which were adopted in 2014, are due to expire at the end of July. (Reuters, TASS)