State-owned Oschadbank’s pre-tax profit for 2024 amounted to UAH 18.7 billion, compared to UAH 9.3 billion in 2023 and UAH 0.6 billion in 2022, the bank said in a press release on Thursday.
According to the report, the amount of income tax and dividends that Oschadbank will pay to the state budget based on its performance in 2024 is expected to amount to UAH 12.2 billion: UAH 9.9 billion of income tax and UAH 2.3 billion of dividends, which is UAH 5.8 billion more than in 2023.
The bank notes that such results were made possible by increasing the balance sheet currency while developing its business. This contributed to an increase in Oschad’s net interest income by UAH 5.5 billion, or 29%.
In addition, work with problem borrowers and other measures to resolve bad debts helped the bank to release provisions by UAH 2.3 billion.
According to the release, the volume of Oschadbank’s net loan portfolio in 2024 increased by UAH 22 billion, or 25%, and exceeded UAH 111 billion. This became possible due to active lending to both businesses (+UAH 15.9 billion since the beginning of the year) and individuals (+UAH 6.1 billion).
It is noted that an important area of Oschad’s investment was investments in government debt securities, the portfolio of which increased by UAH 72.8 billion (in nominal terms), or 68% since the beginning of 2024. Over the past year, the bank purchased UAH 120 billion worth of government bonds, which increased its market share from 16.3% to 20.3%, and its share in the growth of government bonds in the banking system reached 32%.
Oschadbank also clarified that it had tripled the transfer of taxes, fees and paid dividends to the state budget in 2024 to a record UAH 17.2 billion, of which UAH 10.6 billion was income tax (including UAH 2.9 billion in 2023 and UAH 7.7 billion in 2024).
According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of December 1, 2024, Oschadbank ranked 2nd (UAH 439.37 billion) in terms of total assets among 61 banks in the country. The net profit of the financial institution for 11 months of last year amounted to UAH 12.86 billion.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Serbia Ivica Dačić said that the Criminal Police Department, together with the Belgrade Police Department, conducted one of the largest cocaine seizures in recent times, Euronews reports.
“Today in Surčin, during the detention of two people, nine kilograms of cocaine were seized. The detainees were taken into custody for 48 hours, after which they will be transferred to the prosecutor’s office for further consideration,” Dacic said in a statement from the Interior Ministry.
According to Interior Ministry video footage, the bags of cocaine were hidden under the car’s gear lever.
The cost of cocaine on the black market in Europe varies depending on the country and specific conditions. According to local police, in Latvia, the wholesale price for a kilogram of cocaine is about 30,000 euros, and the retail price is 120 euros per gram.
In the Czech Republic, the retail price of cocaine is approximately 136 US dollars per gram.
In Austria, a 137 kg shipment of cocaine was valued at 14 million euros, which corresponds to approximately 102,200 euros per kilogram.
It should be noted that these figures can vary significantly depending on the country, region and current market situation.
Source: https://t.me/relocationrs/462
The Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies-members of the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Ukraine (APMU), joined by other leading domestic pharmaceutical companies, have signed a declaration on reducing the prices of medicines.
According to the declaration, starting March 1, Ukrainian manufacturers will reduce the cost of their drugs by 30%. The price reduction will apply to the 100 most widely used medicines.
The initiative is being implemented in pursuance of the National Security and Defense Council’s decision on additional measures to ensure the availability of medicines for Ukrainians.
The UBA clarifies that this decision of the National Security and Defense Council also provides for the adoption of a number of regulatory acts, one of which is the full implementation of the “Bolar exception”, which has long been in force in the EU.
According to the UBA, the implementation of the Bolar Exemption will allow new and affordable medicines to enter the market faster, which will promote competition and expand patient choice.
At the same time, the FDA notes that “reducing prices is not an easy decision, especially in the context of rising exchange rates, rising import and logistics costs.”
“Pharmaceutical production is critically dependent on foreign markets: more than 80% of raw materials for Ukrainian medicines are purchased abroad. At the same time, investments in research and development of new drugs reach tens of millions of dollars annually. Despite these challenges, companies understand their social responsibility and are ready to take a step towards patients,” said the President of the UBA Petro Bahriy.
As reported, on Wednesday, domestic producers of the most popular medicines signed a declaration to reduce prices for the 100 most popular drugs by 30% starting March 1. Among the signatories are the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Ukraine (AMPU) and pharmaceutical companies Farmak, Borshchahivskiy Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant (BCPP), Darnitsa, Arterium Corporation, Kyiv Vitamin Plant, Yuria-Pharm, Interchem, Kusum Farm, and Viola Pharmaceuticals.
The list of the 100 most popular medicines most often purchased by Ukrainians includes 20 items of Darnitsa, 17 items of Farmak, 22 items of Kyiv Vitamin Plant, five items of Kusum Farm, six items of Yuria-Pharm, eight items of Arterium, two items of Viola, three items of BCPP, and 10 items of InterChem.
Earlier, pursuant to a presidential decree, the government reduced the maximum supply and distribution markups on medicines from 10% to 8% and introduced maximum trade (retail) markups not exceeding 35%, which are charged to the purchase price including taxes.
According to preliminary data, solvent banks of Ukraine received UAH 103.69 billion in net profit last year, which is 24.6% more than in 2023, a result driven mainly by the growth of high-quality loans and investments in government bonds, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported on its website on Wednesday evening.
“Loan yields stabilized in 2024, but their volumes continued to grow. Over the year, the net hryvnia loan portfolio of businesses grew by 21%, and that of households by almost 40%. An additional factor in maintaining the banks’ profitability in 2024 is the growth of investments in government bonds by 35% over the year,” the central bank said.
Thus, according to NBU statistics, the hryvnia loan portfolio of businesses increased to UAH 385.39 billion, and that of households to UAH 221.36 billion. At the same time, investments in domestic debt securities increased to UAH 884.09 billion (in all currencies).
“At the same time, the cost of funding for banks slightly decreased due to lower market deposit rates in the first half of 2024, so banks maintained a fairly high net interest margin,” the regulator emphasized.
Net fee and commission income of the banking system increased by 11.3% over the year. The NBU notes that in December 2024, for the first time since the full-scale war, its monthly volume reached the pre-war level. According to statistics, as of the beginning of 2025, the system’s net fee and commission income reached UAH 56.97 billion.
The high quality of the loan portfolio resulted in a low level of allocations to credit risk provisions. Thus, the volume of deductions almost halved last year to UAH 9.55 billion.
It is noted that despite the further increase in administrative expenses of banks, their operational efficiency remains high.
“At the end of 2024, only nine small banks out of 61 solvent banks were unprofitable with a total loss of UAH 418 million. These are mostly institutions with inefficient business models and a number of long-standing problems,” the NBU said.
Banks paid UAH 83.72 billion in income tax, up from UAH 76.64 billion in 2023. However, it is said that the final amount of taxes paid will be clear only after the annual audit of banks’ accounts.
“Preliminary estimates suggest that the return on equity in the sector will be around 30% in 2024. In general, the banking system remains profitable and sufficiently capitalized, and retains the ability to lend to the economy,” the regulator states.
At the same time, the agency points out that the second consecutive retrospective taxation of banks may affect the condition of some financial institutions. According to the central bank, some of them risk violating capital adequacy requirements after the final calculation and reporting of income tax.
“Maintaining profitability and implementing capitalization programs will allow financial institutions to restore capital. However, the uncertainty of tax policy may continue to deter banks from more active expansion of operations,” the NBU summarized.
In January 2025, Ukraine reduced imports of nickel and nickel products by 66% compared to the same period in 2024, to $1.216 million. In December 2024, this figure was $3.058 million. Nickel exports in January 2025 amounted to $33 thousand, while in December it was $17 thousand. In 2024, Ukraine exported nickel worth $532 thousand.
Nickel is used to produce stainless steel and for nickel plating. Nickel is also used in the production of batteries, powder metallurgy, and chemicals.
In 2024, communities’ budgets received almost UAH 273 million in tourist tax, which is almost 23% more than in 2023 (UAH 222 million 618 thousand) and 53% more than in 2022 (UAH 178 million 949 thousand), the press service of the State Agency for Tourism Development (DART) reports.
Kyiv and five regions are among the leaders in paying the tourist tax.
The capital’s budget received the largest amount of tourist tax – UAH 49 million 182 thousand. In 2023, this amount amounted to UAH 30 million 378 thousand, and in 2022 – UAH 31 million 474 thousand.
The budget of Lviv region was replenished by UAH 47 million 108 thousand. This is almost as much as the amount of revenues received by the regional budget in 2023 – UAH 46 million 85 thousand. This amount is 14% higher than in 2022, when the budget of Lviv region received UAH 41 million 430 thousand of tourist tax.
In Ivano-Frankivsk region, the amount of tourist tax increased by 84% compared to 2023 – up to UAH 33 million 99 thousand, when the regional budget received UAH 17 million 956 thousand. In 2023, the region’s tourist tax amounted to UAH 20 million 408 thousand.
Cherkasy region received UAH 23 million 532 thousand in tourist tax. In 2023, the amount was slightly less – UAH 21 million 574 thousand, in 2022 it was 87% less – UAH 12 million 555 thousand.
The amount of tourist tax in Zakarpattia region last year amounted to UAH 23 million 93 thousand. It is almost the same as in 2023 – UAH 22 million 161 thousand, and 19% more than in 2022 – UAH 19 million 471 thousand.
Dnipropetrovska oblast closes the list of leaders with UAH 15 million 960 thousand. Compared to 2023, the amount of tourist tax in the region increased by 21% to UAH 13 million 219 thousand. In 2022, the region’s tourist tax amounted to UAH 9 million 210 thousand.
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