President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky says that the implementation of the Big Construction program will not end after the local elections scheduled for October 25.
“To implement the Comfortable Country program we started Big Construction. And this is not just the name of the next state program. Everyone can see that the country is really undergoing a lot of construction works. We unite Ukraine, not only with the help of ideology but with roads and bridges as well,” Zelensky said during his annual address to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday, October 20.
“This year these are 4,000 km of national roads and 2,000 km of local roads, 100 schools, 100 kindergartens, 100 sports facilities, 210 reception services with the latest medical equipment. When we announced these numbers at the beginning of the year, many did not believe. But most of these facilities are already finished, and by the end of the year we will fulfill this plan,” the head of state added.
The president stressed that the current government is not delaying, but finishing the construction of a number of facilities, which began in previous years.
“Despite the long tradition of Ukrainian policy, Big Construction will not end after the local elections, but will become even larger,” Zelensky added.
The bus operator FlixBus will open three new routes on November 4 and on November 5: Kyiv – Warsaw – Szczecin (both are in Poland), Chernivtsi – Warsaw and Lviv – Ostrava (the Czech Republic).
As Managing Director of FlixBus in Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States Michal Lehman said at a press conference on Tuesday, route number 3222 Kyiv-Warsaw-Szczecin, which will be operated jointly with private entrepreneur Serhiy Sherstiuk, will also pass through the following cities: Zhytomyr, Rivne, Lutsk, Lublin, Lodz, Poznan and Gorzow Wielkopolski. The trip frequency is twice a week.
Route 3241 Chernivtsi – Warsaw (partner – IV-AUTO) will pass through Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Lublin. The frequency is three times a week.
Route CUA025 Lviv – Ostrava (partner – ACIK, Poland) will pass through Krakow, Katowice and Bohumin. Its frequency is twice a week.
“The first two lines are fully compliant with the green FlixBus standards. The third line will be fully operated by ACIK, but we will also sell tickets for these trips. There are separate seats on ACIK buses, which are marked with a green sticker, which will be assigned to FlixBus passengers,” he said.
According to him, to date, the FlixBus network connects 16 cities of Ukraine from 12 regions with 48 cities in Europe (six countries).
Ukrainian agricultural holding Kernel, which announced about a buyout of 2022 eurobonds for up to $350 million on October 5, received applications for a total sum of $285.89 million by the term of early deadline and decided to satisfy all of them, according to the company’s report on the exchange on Tuesday, October 20.
These debut eurobonds of the agricultural holding were issued in January 2017 for five years for $500 million at 8.875% with a coupon of 8.75%. The purchase price was set at 105.625%.
At the same time, Kernel announced issuing eurobonds in the amount of approximately $300-350 million for a period of five or seven years. The organizers of the issue are JPMorgan, Credit Agricole и Natixis.
“The purpose of the tender offer is to proactively manage and lengthen the structure of the group’s debt by maturity by refinancing part of the bonds with new bonds with a longer maturity,” the report says.
The company confirmed that the early settlement is October 29. The deadline for accepting applications for exchange is November 2, however, after the early deadline, the settlement price is 102.625%. The final settlement date is November 5.
The redeemable Kernel eurobonds at the end of the day on October 19 were quoted at the rate of 105.544% of the face value, which corresponded to profitability of about 4.229%.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) performed 8,981 regular flights and 2,728 charter flights in January-September.
As noted in a message posted on the airline’s website on Tuesday, October 20, UIA continues to restore its flight network, despite epidemiological restrictions that have limited aviation operations.
During the period from January to September 2020, the airline performed 8,981 scheduled flights, 2,728 charter flights and carried 1.451 million passengers.
The number of passengers on UIA regular flights during this period amounted to 1.005 million, and on charter flights to 446,480.
“The percentage of transit for the nine months is 40% (taking into account all regular flights). The volume of cargo transportation (both on regular and charter flights) is 3,616 tonnes,” the report says.
In the first nine months of 2020, UIA serves 46 routes (including both regular and charter flights).
In September, the airline operated 466 regular and 772 charter flights, carried 171,713 passengers (of which 37,800 were on regular flights and 133,900 on charter flights).
The percentage of transit on airline flights in September 2020 amounted to 22%.
The volume of cargo transportation amounted to 176,263 tonnes.
UIA closely monitors the development of the epidemiological situation in each country to which it operates flights and declares its readiness to gradually restore the route network while improving epidemiological indicators and obtaining permits for flights.
By the end of 2020, the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine will grow by 5-6% in national currency, while at the beginning of the year a growth of 14% was expected, Director of AstraZeneca Ukraine LLC Yevhen Gaidukov has said.
“If we had a forecast of about 14% growth in the national currency, now we believe that by the end of the year the market will grow by 5-6% in hryvnia, but growth will depend on the U.S. dollar exchange rate,” he said during the European Business Association (EBA) Global Outlook event held in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Gaidukov said that the key challenge faced by the pharmaceutical market in 2020 was the almost complete absence of patients in clinics since April-May and “absolutely panic demand in March.”
“We, as an industry, were not ready for this. Telemedicine and other means of remote communication between a doctor and a patient were undeveloped. This is the reason for the market decline,” he said.
Under the optimistic scenario, Gaidukov predicts the growth of the pharmaceutical market by 10-11% in 2021.
“For 2021, we believe that the market will grow by 10-11% under the optimistic scenario. With regard to our company, we want to grow and this year, we will grow several times faster than the market,” he said.
At the same time, Gaidukov said that the pace of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market “will strongly depend on the reform of the healthcare system, which has slowed down this year, taking into account the prioritization of other things, in particular COVID-19.”
Naftogaz Ukrainy in the evening on October 20 postponed the placement of dollar-denominated eurobonds indefinitely, a source in the market has told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, a corresponding report from the company has been sent to investors.
Earlier on October 20 it was reported that the benchmark for the yield of U.S. dollar eurobonds was 9-9.25%. The company planned to place a new issue with maturity in February 2027 and has already opened the order book. Citi is the sole organizer of the placement.
