The European Commission has announced its decision to provide EUR 1.2 billion of assistance to Ukraine during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“This is an unprecedented amount of macro-financial assistance. The EU’s decision is not only a manifestation of solidarity in difficult times. This is evidence that Ukraine was not mistaken in making the European choice. Indeed, a friend in need is a friend in deed,” the head of state’s press service said, quoting Zelensky as saying on Wednesday.
The financing from the EU will help guarantee the macroeconomic stability of Ukraine.
“Thanks to such support, the state will be able to provide extra money to protect citizens and mitigate the negative consequences of the pandemic for people,” the press service said.
The Ukrainian insurance market this year could cut the volume of insurance premiums collected by 20-30% compared with 2019 due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the economic situation, according to insurers polled by Interfax-Ukraine.
“We have made three scenarios: from optimistic to pessimistic. All three scenarios provide for deviation from planned sales plans. Under an optimistic scenario, we (and possibly the entire market) will reach last year’s sales figures (around 5%); the average scenario provides for a 15% drop compared to last year; the pessimistic scenario can mean a drop of 30% or higher for the market compared to last year. We are optimistic,” Deputy Board Chairman of ARX (formerly AXA Insurance) Viacheslav Havrylenko said.
The forecast for a decrease in market volumes by 20-30% was made in the insurance companies Guardian and Euroins Ukraine. At the same time, according to Euroins Ukraine, the crisis will continue in 2021.
At the same time, the TAS Insurance Group said that the insurance market after lockdown should recover in a couple of months. Two factors can prevent this: a sharp jump in the hryvnia exchange rate to the U.S. dollar or significant problems with the income of the population due to the long lockdown and the fact that many were forced to go on vacation at their own expense.
“If there are no serious shocks, we see no reason not to cope with the tasks that we have set for ourselves this year. We, as a company focused on retail sales, are not so dependent on the corporate sector, which will suffer the most in the crisis Therefore, at the moment I don’t see the need to make any considerable adjustments to our plans, but time will tell,”, Board Chairman of TAS insurance group Pavlo Tsaruk said.
According to UNIQA insurance company, it all depends on the duration of the lockdown and changes in its regime. With the weakening of quarantine from the end of April and the gradual exit from it during May, the impact will be, but a significant drop will probably be avoided. Most stable and capitalized insurers must cope with these challenges. Therefore, now customers should pay close attention to the reliability, stability and financial viability of the insurer, the company said.
Asked what companies intend to do in order to minimize possible losses in the business, most insurers said that they intend to optimize processes and costs that are not necessary now, to work on diversifying the portfolio, and not to stop providing a high level of service for all types insurance, continue digitalizing business processes, enhancing responsibility and discipline.
“Crises are not only problems, but also always opportunities. We have long wanted to abandon paper policies and are actively introducing electronic policies wherever possible. Also, quarantine made it easier for us to introduce digital channels of interaction with customers who did not want before remote work, now they actively and with pleasure use our services to purchase policies and settle losses, including self-purchase of policies online on our website,” Havrylenko said.
According to Board Chairman of Alfa Insurance Iryna Hevel, “the crisis will force insurers to diversify the portfolio, because no matter what, one need to adapt to new realities, re-profile sellers, restructure work with partners and customers. But also, these new realities will definitely speed up and launch the digitalization of processes in companies. We’ll see how the situation develops, but we would like the economy and each particular business to recover as quickly as possible,” she said.
Most of the market players surveyed consider the worst economic situation in Ukraine and the risk of its deterioration, the state of uncertainty, the lack of stability and understanding of how long it will last, the emotional state of the team and customers to be the most difficult.
Ukraine in January-March 2020 exported agricultural products for $5.7 billion, which is 6% more than a year ago, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) has reported.
According to a report on the association’s website, the crisis minimally affected the trade in agricultural products in the first quarter of 2020. According to the results of the first three months of the year, exports grew by categories: fats and oils by $235.1 million (a rise of 19%), finished products by $74.8 million (a rise of 9%), crop products by $49.3 million (a rise of 2%). In particular, exports of sunflower oil grew by $193.1 million (17%), corn by $148.6 million (8%) and barley by $58.7 million (132%). At the same time, there was a reduction in the supply of rapeseed from Ukraine by $69.1 million (97%), soybeans by $50.4 million (19%) and wheat by $25.2 million (4%).
The association said that the export of livestock products decreased 15% and in January-March 2020 it amounted to $265.9 million. The decrease was due to a fall in supplies of eggs from Ukraine by $13.1 million (36%) and poultry by $10 5 million (7%).
“This situation is caused by a partial ban on the export of these products as a result of an outbreak of avian influenza in Ukraine,” the UCAB said.
At the same time, according to the association, imports of agricultural products in January-March 2020 amounted to $1.7 billion, which is 18% more than the same period last year. The supply of cheese rose by $26.3 million (almost twice), potatoes by $19.8 million (12 times) and citrus by $16.4 million (a rise of 21%).
The European Union’s position to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is unchanged, High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell said. High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell gave such assurances to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba during a telephone conversation on Tuesday, April 21 before the meeting with EU Foreign Affairs Ministers, which will also consider the Ukrainian issue. This was announced by the EU press service on Wednesday.
“High Representative Borrell underlined the EU’s steadfast support to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He welcomed Ukraine’s continued reform efforts, highlighting in particular the importance of the banking law in this regard,” the message reads.
He also highlighted the EU’s support to Ukraine in response to the coronavirus outbreak. EUR 190 million has been allocated to Ukraine, to support the health sector and social and economic recovery. In that context, they also emphasized the importance to counter disinformation surrounding the pandemic.
“They discussed the recent release and exchange of detainees related to the conflict in eastern Ukraine that took place on 16 April, and the need to continue work to implement the Minsk agreements,” the press release reads.
High Representative Borrell looked forward to visiting Ukraine as a priority once the conditions allow.
Transport enterprises of Ukraine (excluding the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as part of the Joint Forces Operation zone) reduced cargo transportation by 13.1% in January-March 2020 compared to January-March 2019, to 140.7 million tonnes, the State Statistics Service has reported.
According to its data, freight turnover of carriers for the specified period decreased by 14.9%, to 68.853 billion tonne-kilometers.
According to statistics, in the first quarter of 2020, 37.9 million tonnes of cargo were transported by rail in domestic traffic and for exports, which is 4.1% less than in January-March 2019. Some 43.7 million tonnes (17.9% down) were transported by road, 900,000 tonnes (12.6% less) by water, 22.2 million tonnes (27.6% less) by pipeline, and 20,000 tonnes (13.6% less) by airlines.
Chemical Alliance LLC (ChemAlliance) has launched a plant for the production of liquid complex fertilizers with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year in Poltava region in the middle of April. According to the company’s press release on Tuesday, April 21, the first batch of finished products have already been produced and shipped to customers. Fertilizers at the Poltava plant are produced using acid synthesis technology. The total capacity of the enterprise is 50,000 tonnes of liquid complex fertilizers per year. The complex produces fertilizers under the BlauPhos trademark.
The company told Interfax-Ukraine that investments in opening the plant in Poltava region amounted to about EUR 2 million.
Chemical Alliance LLC (Poltava) was established in 2010. It is engaged in production and sale of liquid mineral and granular fertilizers.
