•The Donbas blockade’s impact on the Ukrainian economy will definitely be negative, but experts polled by Interfax Ukraine vary in their predictions of how much damage it will do. Meanwhile, the central bank weighed in by lowering its GDP growth forecast for the year to 1.9 percent because of the blockade.

•Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk said Ukraine will provide an update to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday or Wednesday that takes into account the effects of the Donbas blockade, Interfax Ukraine reported.

•Year-on-year retail trade in Ukraine over the first two months of the year grew slightly, but in February it shrank nearly 4 percent from the previous month, according to the State Statistics Service.

•Forbes’ annual list of global billionaires features a six-pack of Ukrainians. Tycoon Rinat Akhmetov, whose Metinvest Group is Ukraine’s largest private company, leads the group with a net worth of $4.6 billion. He is No. 359 in this year’s rankings. PrivatBank founders Hennady Boholiubov and Ihor Kolomoisky joined Victor Pinchuk, Yuriy Kosiuk and Konstantyn Zhevago on the list.

•ArcelorMittal Kryviy Rih, the country’s largest steelmaker, posted a net profit of $100 million in 2016, nearly double the 2015 figure of $51.3 million, Unian reported.

•In the first two months of the year, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 9 percent more cargo than it did in the same period last year, according to the company’s website, Ukrinform reported.

•With 2.3 percent economic growth in 2016, Ukraine reversed four consecutive years of decline in its economy, the State Statistics Service announced. The government’s latest figure bumps up the official measure by 0.1 percentage points.

•As of March 17, 53 companies had applied for parcels in the Chernobyl exclusion zone as sites for solar energy arrays, according to Ukrainski Novyny.

•Russia's Sberbank is seeking a way to make a quick exit from the Ukrainian market as pressure from both the authorities and the public builds, Novoe Vremya reported.

•Partnering with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the Agriculture Ministry is working on its piece of a national strategy for adapting to climate change, according to Ukrinform.

•Belarus imposed temporary restrictions on imports of live pigs, pork and pork products from the Kherson region because of African swine fever concerns.

For comments and news tips, contact UBJ AM editor David Edwards at david.edwards@theubj.com.