Ukraine

1) A recent announcement that the EBRD wants to double its new investment in Ukraine this year to $1 billion, Marina Petrov, a deputy head of the EBRD's Ukraine office, tells the European Business Association. She said more lending depends on the the future, and that Zelesnskiy continues to work with the IMF reform program. "We hope that, first of all, the work on the IMF program will continue," she said. "We already see investors ready to come to the economy.

2) Strong foreign investor interest in hryvnia bonds, there is no immediate need for a Eurobond sale, Markarova said. Separately, the central bank improved its forecast on the level of Ukraine's year end international reserves by 3%, to $21.2 billion.

3) Inflation will end this year at 6.3%. Last year's inflation rate was 9.8%. In March, the year on year rate was 8.6%. Asked about the impact of Russia's June 1st restrictions on exports to Ukraine, Smoliy told reporters: "I do not see that this can significantly affect prices in the current year."

4) Venture investments in Ukrainian IT startups increased by 30% last year y-o-y, to $337 million, reports a study by Deloitte and the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. Similarly, the number of deals increased by 29%, to 115. The average investment increased by 12%, to $918,000. Mergers and acquisitions appeared for the first time, with seven deals registered for a total of $25 million. With the collapse of the bit coin boom, the number of ICOs fell from 19 to four. For the smallest of startups, crowdfunding platforms remained popular, with seven campaigns raising a total of $1.4 million.

1) China and Ukraine signed a deal for $340 million in financing to build a new highway bridge across the Dnipro at Kremenchuk, replacing a 70-year-old bridge built after World War II. An executive of China Road and Bridge Corporation and Slawomir Novak, head of Ukravtodor, signed the agreement in Beijing at the Second International One Belt, One Way Forum.

2) With Chinese-EU container trains starting to roll across Ukraine, Economic Development Minister Stepan Kubiv offered at the forum to build "a trade and industrial corridor China-Ukraine-EU." "Ukraine is ready to offer profitable transport routes on the territory of Ukraine to connect China with the countries of Europe," he said in Beijing. "We offer our Chinese colleagues a joint project portfolio: development of port infrastructure, alternative energy facilities, construction of highways and bridges, development of railway and airport facilities, high technology, cooperation in the aerospace sector, agricultural processing."

1) The real effects of Brexit. In a recent meeting with Atlantic Link Consulting's logistics partners in Europe, the main topic of discussion was "What do we do after Brexit"? This just shows that Brexit is very real for business and it is not just something discussed all day long on popular news channels.
"After Brexit we will have to re-think how we do business with the UK from continental Europe once the UK leaves Europe" - Sean Keilty said during the meeting, "We will have to re-calculate delivery times due to hold ups at the border along with masses of extra paper work".

2) Ferry firm P&O is taking legal action against the UK government, claiming a rival was unlawfully handed £33m of taxpayers' money.
P&O's potential grounds include a claim that the £33m payment to Eurotunnel amounts to a contract, which should have been advertised under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
The remedies include setting aside the contract, damages and a fine.
The interesting question here is whether securing "Improvement Projects" as part of the Eurotunnel settlement agreement turns an otherwise lawful settlement agreement into an unlawful public contract.
P&O may also be arguing that the settlement amounts to unlawful state aid, on the grounds that it confers an advantage on Eurotunnel over its competitors.
If unlawful state aid is found, the government would have to recover the aid in full, with interest, and damages may be payable to P&O.
The extent to which the settlement represents fair value will be highly relevant here.