UKRAINIAN NATIONAL BANK TO KEEP TIGHT REIN ON HRYVNYA. The Ukrainian National Bank has decided to keep the hryvnya within the exchange rate corridor of 1.8-2.25 to $1, which was set by the government in January 1998 for the entire year. "We have decided to take several measures to improve the trade balance so as to preserve the corridor," a bank official told Ukrainian News on 20 August. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Television reported the same day that the Ministry of Economy has prepared a package of measures to soften the impact of the Russian ruble's decline on the Ukrainian economy. Deputy Economy Minister Leonid Minin told journalists that "there are no reasons for panic in Ukraine." JM

GERMANY'S KANTHER PLEDGES AID TO REINFORCE POLISH BORDER. German Interior Minister Manfred Kanther announced during his visit to Warsaw on 20 August that Germany will continue financing the modernization of Polish border posts, PAP reported. He added that German border guards will assist in training their Polish counterparts. Kanther visited the Polish-Ukrainian border crossing at Medyka to see how Poland is implementing an EU program for sealing its eastern border. According to the Polish agency, Kanther praised the Polish border guards, noting that "we have to be sure that the future border of the EU will be secure." Since 1993, Germany has provided Poland with some $67 million to reinforce border posts on Poland's eastern frontier. JM