ukraine? - The Ukrainian Weekly

12 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1998No. 38Newsbriefs(Continued from page 2)tried to prevent the patriarch’s burial in theSt. Sophia complex, which is under theprotection and jurisdiction of the state. As aresult, the body was buried in the squarenear the historic cathedral. VyacheslavChornovil, chairman of Rukh, explainedthat Patriarch Volodymyr deserves the titlefor his heroic activities seeking the rebirthof independent Ukraine and its nationalChurch. He also proposed that the patriarchbe reburied inside the Cathedral of St.Sophia, thus creating a “sepulcher ofUkrainian patriarchs.” (Agency ofReligious Information)Parliament bans privatization of distilleriesKYIV – The Verkhovna Rada onSeptember 11 banned the privatization ofdistilleries by vetoing a decree signed byPresident Leonid Kuchma earlier this year,the Associated Press reported. The veto,supported by 236 deputies in the 450-seatlegislature, will frustrate the government’shopes to raise 300 million hryvni ($120million U.S.) from the privatization of 73out of a total of 168 distilleries still not privatized.(RFE/RL Newsline)Moody’s lowers Ukraine’s credit ratingKYIV – Moody’s Investors Service hasdowngraded Ukraine’s rating for foreigncurrencydebts from B2 to B3 and for foreigncurrency bank deposits from B3 toCaa3, the Associated Press reported onSeptember 10. The U.S. agency cited “thedepletion of Ukraine’s foreign currencyreserves to dangerously low levels over thepast few months,” which, it said, suggests“an increase in the risk of default on[Ukraine’s] foreign debt obligations.”Moody’s also did not share the government’soptimism over the recent approvalof a $2.2 billion loan by the IMF, sayingthe loan will only postpone a financial crisisif radical economic reform is not implemented.(RFE/RL Newsline)Canadian management school opensKYIV – Ukraine’s first Canadian businessmanagement program opened onSeptember 9 with a class of 40 students.The program’s Kyiv campus will offermajors in managerial accounting andfinance. The project was initiated by theNational University of Kyiv-MohylaAcademy and Canada’s Grant MacEwanCommunity College. Canadian instructorswill teach 20 percent of the courses and 20students from Ukraine will get internshipsin Canada. (Eastern Economist)Rada rejects nominee for privatization postKYIV – The leftist-dominatedVerkhovna Rada on September 10 failed toapprove the state privatization chief, raisingdoubts about the government’s plans tospeed up privatization in the country, theAssociated Press reported. OleksanderBondar, President Leonid Kuchma’s nomineeto head the State Property Fund,received 210 votes in the Parliament – 16short of the necessary majority. “We thinkthat privatization and de-monopolizationare two levers that pushed Ukraine intoabysmal ruin,” Ukrainian Television quotedone Communist deputy as saying after thevote. Petro Symonenko, leader of theCommunist Party caucus, said privatizationmay still be continued if President Kuchmanominates a Communist to head the StateProperty Fund. (RFE/RL Newsline)