What the March 2018 sanctions and coin reform signalled
A look back at two economic announcements made in the days before 20 March 2018, one in Kyiv and one in Washington.
What was on the economic agenda by 20 March 2018? Two reports from the preceding days show a Ukrainian monetary housekeeping decision and a major American sanctions step against Russian nationals.
Coins in Kyiv
On 14 March 2018, the National Bank of Ukraine presented new coins in denominations of 2, 5 and 10 hryvnias. It also announced that it would stop minting small-denomination coins. The two items together described a shift in the everyday cash the central bank intended to put into circulation.
Sanctions in Washington
On 15 March 2018, the Trump administration imposed financial sanctions on 19 Russian nationals under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. Twelve of them were among those indicted in the Special Counsel investigation.
The act is a US federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia, working by preventing American companies from doing business with sanctioned entities. The Senate passed it on 27 July 2017 by 98 votes to 2, after the House had approved it 419 to 3. President Donald Trump signed it on 2 August 2017, though he believed the legislation was seriously flawed.
Reading the two together
The two developments were unrelated in subject and origin: one was a domestic decision by Ukraine's central bank, the other an enforcement step by the United States. Both, however, were concrete administrative actions taken within a single week, and both were announced by the institutions responsible for carrying them out. For readers following public institutions in the region, that is the main thread connecting them as of 20 March 2018.
