UKRAINE FAILS TO ACHIEVE PRIVATIZATION TARGET... Oleksandr Bondar, acting head of the Ukrainian State Property Fund, said on 28 July that privatization revenues this year will fall short of the planned $1 billion hryvni ($475 million), Ukrainian Television reported. In the first six months of 1998, those revenues totaled only 240 million hryvni. In Bondar's opinion, the fund will not fulfill its privatization plan because of the "emergency situation at a majority of Ukrainian enterprises." He added that it is impossible to sell shares in the most attractive enterprises "even at nominal prices." JM

...REPORTS GDP GROWTH. In the first half of 1998, Ukraine witnessed a "positive trend toward increasing its GDP," Ukraine Television reported on 28 July, citing a report by the State Committee for Statistics. This is the first time in recent years that such growth has been registered. According to the committee, "small but long-awaited improvements" could be seen in both the industrial and agricultural sectors. The agricultural sector's contribution to GDP increased by 2.8 percent. Negative trends mentioned in the committee's report include an increase in the number of loss-making industrial enterprises and a decrease in real incomes. JM

UKRAINE FAILS TO ACHIEVE PRIVATIZATION TARGET... Oleksandr Bondar, acting head of the Ukrainian State Property Fund, said on 28 July that privatization revenues this year will fall short of the planned $1 billion hryvni ($475 million), Ukrainian Television reported. In the first six months of 1998, those revenues totaled only 240 million hryvni. In Bondar's opinion, the fund will not fulfill its privatization plan because of the "emergency situation at a majority of Ukrainian enterprises." He added that it is impossible to sell shares in the most attractive enterprises "even at nominal prices." JM

...REPORTS GDP GROWTH. In the first half of 1998, Ukraine witnessed a "positive trend toward increasing its GDP," Ukraine Television reported on 28 July, citing a report by the State Committee for Statistics. This is the first time in recent years that such growth has been registered. According to the committee, "small but long-awaited improvements" could be seen in both the industrial and agricultural sectors. The agricultural sector's contribution to GDP increased by 2.8 percent. Negative trends mentioned in the committee's report include an increase in the number of loss-making industrial enterprises and a decrease in real incomes. JM