KUCHMA APPOINTS NEW DEPUTY PREMIER IN CHARGE OF ECONOMIC REFORM.

Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma yesterday appointed Serhii Tigipko, a banker from Kuchma’s home town Dnipropetrovsk, as deputy prime minister in charge of economic reform. Tigipko takes over from Viktor Pynzenyk, who resigned on April 7 in protest against the slow pace of reform. Tigipko, 37, is a one-time Komsomol regional leader who built Privatbank into one of the largest banks in Ukraine. (Itar-Tass, April 8; see also Perspective section below)

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