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Central bank to cut staff The National Bank of Ukraine plans to lay off half of its workforce in the next stage of its internal restructuring. The cutbackS are among changes expected to take place within the central bank over the next two-and-a-half years as it seeks to increase its transparency and independence, with the aim of integrating the bank into the “European community of national central banks,” the NBU said in a post on its website.

The bank cut its workforce from 11,800 to 5,300 in the first stage of its restructuring, which finished in 2015.

“Over the last two years, the NBU has undergone considerable change, giving up the post-Soviet model of a state regulator with too many staff and low efficiency,” Roman Borysenko, director of the NBU’s personnel department, said in the announcement.

Borysenko listed institutional independence, improvements in decision-making, reducing hierarchy and “making corruption impossible” as among the bank’s recent achievements. “Many changes are still to be made as we rapidly move towards a modern and effective model of a European central bank,” Borysenko said.

Wheat exports double

Ukraine’s producers exported 7.1 million tons of wheat over the first six months of 2016, which is 93 percent more than during the same period of 2015.

According to an expert from the Agricultural Business Club, Yevheniy Dvornik, exports rose because of a good harvest, improved production and stabilization of wheat prices.

According to Ukraine’s State Statistics Service, Egypt is the largest importer of Ukrainian wheat, buying around 20 percent of all the wheat Ukraine exports. Indonesia and Bangladesh were the next biggest importers of Ukrainian wheat in 2016.

Dvornik predicted a slight reduction in wheat production this year as farmers cut back on planting because of low wheat prices. “Sunflower is in greater demand, so the planted area for it has significantly increased,” Dvornik said. He also said sunflower are more profitable.

2 more banks to be liquidated

Classicbank and Eurobank will be liquidated, the National Bank of Ukraine has announced. The move was proposed by the Deposit Guarantee Fund.

Classicbank was identified as a problem bank in December 2015 because of its non-transparent ownership structure. It was declared insolvent on June 14 after failing to rectify the problem. Eurobank was declared insolvent on June 17.

The number of banks operating in Ukraine has dropped from 180 to 101.

FDI: $44.7 billion

Total foreign direct investment in Ukraine has increased to $44.7 billion, according to the Ukraine’s State Statistics Service. According to Ukraine’s State Statistics Service, 83 percent of the FDI to Ukraine came from 10 countries: Cyprus, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Austria, the United Kingdom, the British Virgin Islands, France, Switzerland, and Italy. Five out of the 10 countries operate offshore tax havens and remaining ones are favored residences of the ultra-rich. Notably, Russian investment into Ukraine has increased by almost 3 percent since January.

Direct investment by Ukraine in 47 countries on July 1 stood at $6.2 billion, with Cyprus leading the way.

Smokescreen?

A new electronic asset and property declarations system for government personnel was activated on Aug. 15, but it has not been certified by the State Service for Government Communications.

The absence of certification could lead the International Monetary Fund and the European Union to suspend future loans and aid to Ukraine.

The State Service for Government Communications said on Aug. 12 that it had refused to certify the electronic property declaration system because information protection solutions in the system were noncompliant with technical requirements.

Vitaly Shabunin, the head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s executive board, said that without certification, evidence of wrongdoing wouldn’t be admissible in court. He called for the system to be certified within soon and for officials to re-declare their assets. He also said those responsible for the bungled launch of the system should be fired.

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said the system was expected to be fully launched soon.