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The EU Council didn't just extend deadlines — it rewrote the rules so that Ukraine would be able to receive the remaining funds from the Ukraine Facility by the end of 2027.
# Translation The tranche within the Ukraine Support Loan is an advance on future weapons supplies for the front, not a gift: sooner or later these billions will have to be repaid, and the question of "who will pay" remains open.
The NBU raised its inflation forecast for 2026 to 10%, with the main reason being not the exchange rate or fuel, but rather businesses massively passing increased labor costs onto prices. This means that nominal wages will grow while purchasing power will not.
Increases in transport and water tariffs will add 0.5 percentage points to inflation, but the real test still lies ahead — gas and heating tariffs are set to rise as required by the IMF.
# National Bank Raises Discount Rate for Fourth Time This Year, Acknowledging Inflation Won't Be Tamed Before 2027 The National Bank has hiked its discount rate for the fourth time in a year, signaling that inflation is unlikely to be brought under control before 2027. For ordinary citizens, this means more expensive loans in the short term and more attractive deposits — but only if banks respond to the regulator's signal.
National Bank admits: inflation will spiral out of control faster than expected half a year ago. Behind abstract percentages lies concrete arithmetic — how much mortgages will cost and whether it's worth putting hryvnia in deposits.
The National Bank stops meeting all bank applications for deposit certificates indiscriminately — now banks will have to compete for both the limit and depositors simultaneously.
The World Bank has officially confirmed that China will stop receiving loans through IBRD by 2031. The document set a ceiling of no more than $2 billion for the entire remaining period, but did not establish a verification mechanism for compliance.
The second tranche of the EFF program has arrived, but the fund has registered that some structural commitments were completed with delays or not fulfilled at all. The money is there, the question is what will happen at the next review.
Hungarian OTP Group signed an agreement to acquire Luminor and immediately faced "lawful questions" from Baltic regulators over the bank still operating in Russia.
The IMF memorandum enshrines the idea of a "reconstruction tax" — essentially the same rate under a new name. However, the parameters, tax base, and taxpayers have yet to be determined.
# Translation After the Supreme Court struck down Trump's customs powers under IEEPA, the administration found a replacement in the dusty archives of the 1930s. Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Act gives the president a 50% tariff with no procedural restrictions whatsoever.
The Verkhovna Rada is weakening PEP monitoring for the second time in three years — and receiving criticism from the IMF for the second time. This time, violations of FATF standards were recorded directly in the EFF program memorandum.
The International Monetary Fund recommends that Kyiv cancel the increased corporate income tax rate for banks after 2027. The argument is straightforward: the sector is not building capital, investors are not entering.
GDP rose by 0.8% in June — the highest figure since the beginning of the year. However, behind this number lies a structural divide between sectors that are recovering and those that continue to shrink under infrastructure damage.
The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has halted 20% of global oil supplies and pushed Brent above $90. Ukrainian gas stations are already rewriting their price tags — and each dollar increase per barrel simultaneously replenishes the Russian budget.
The Fund's executive board approved the second tranche despite failure to meet the VAT benchmark. The money arrived, but the requirements did not disappear — they were postponed to a later date with new deadlines.
The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit with the High Anti-Corruption Court regarding a BMW X7 and Mercedes-Benz S 400 valued at 7.4 million hryvnias. Both vehicles were registered under the name of Trenkin's driver, whose official income since 1998 has not even reached the price of a single wheel.
Ukraine received the second EFF tranche, but the price is not just the loan interest rate: the IMF essentially elevated its conditions regarding VAT for large individual entrepreneurs to the level of a "prior action" in the next review.
Tor Biergolfsson moved his business to Zurich and himself to Italy. His case illustrates a structural problem: the abolition of the non-dom regime is already costing Britain more than it brings in.
# Law on International Parcel Taxation is a Condition for IMF and EU Tranches, but Parliament Already Failed One Vote. Hetmantsev Says There's No Backing Down, and 20% VAT Will Come Before EU Accession The taxation law for international parcels is a requirement for tranches from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, though the parliament has already failed one vote on the issue. Finance Minister Sergii Hetmantsev insists there will be no retreat, stating that the 20% VAT will be implemented before Ukraine's accession to the European Union.
Merz's Merkel government has shifted from attempting to halt the takeover to drawing up a list of demands — fundamentally changing the rules of the game for the bank's 25,000 business clients.
# New Regulator Requirements Mean Banks Will Know Your Financial Behavior Better Than You Do. The Question Is Who Else Will Have Access to It.
# New Prime Minister's First International Call—With IMF, Not NATO Allies The neutral protocol masks concrete deadline of July 20 and uncomfortable detail about unfulfilled reform.
# JPMorgan Posts Record Profits and $1 Trillion Market Cap, Rivaling Tesla and Meta. But Jamie Dimon Warns: The Bank Thrives While the Economy Faces Uncertainty Record profits and market capitalization approaching $1 trillion place JPMorgan alongside Tesla and Meta. However, Jamie Dimon cautions: the bank itself is thriving, while the economy remains in question.
The government has allocated 49.4 million hryvnias for emergency repairs to a dam near Izmail — but experts say the only reliable solution is to build a duplicate structure, whose timeline remains unclear.
# Translation: The NBU recognized the legal clarity of the design but rejected the font associated with Russian Oleksandra Hofman — because "the fact of association is sufficient." The scandal repeated itself for the second time: the same objection was raised back in 2019, following the 1,000 hryvnia banknote.
Bloomberg has recorded a massive capital outflow among Russia's wealthiest individuals, including those considered close to Putin. The reason is not sanctions, but fear of the Kremlin itself.
A designer-soldier noticed that the letters "я," "в," and "н" on the new 2,000-hryvnia banknote matched the pirated Cyrillic design of a Russian designer — and this was enough for the National Bank to have the banknote redesigned before printing.
# A Tyrannosaurus Skeleton Sold to an Anonymous Buyer at Twice the Estimated Price A tyrannosaurus skeleton has been sold to an anonymous buyer at double its initial estimate. This is more than just an auction record — it is a symptom of a system where the most important paleontological discoveries go to whoever can outbid museums.