Ukraine since the beginning of the new 2019/2020 marketing year (MY, July-June) and as of October 30, 2019 had exported 17.94 million tonnes of grain and legumes, which is 32% more than on the same date last MY.
According to the information and analytical portal of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine, to date, the country has exported 10.92 million tonnes of wheat, 3.59 million tonnes of corn, and 3.2 million tonnes of barley.
As of October 31 of this year, farmers had exported 109,700 tonnes of flour.
As reported, Ukraine in the 2018/2019 MY exported a record 50.4 million tonnes of grain, legumes and flour, which is 23% more than in the previous MY.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in September raised its forecast for grain exports for the 2019/2020 MY by 400,000 tonnes compared with the August forecast, to 54.44 million tonnes.
The Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved the provision of additional financing in the amount of EUR 200 million for the development of renewable energy sources in Ukraine. The EBRD said it intends to issue new funds to finance private renewable energy projects under the current system of stimulating “green” tariffs. The planned replenishment will allow the bank to build on the success of USELF-III and maintain momentum in the transition from the existing mechanism of preferential tariffs to a support system based on competitive auctions.
The bank noted that the third program of financing renewable energy development approved in July 2018 in the amount of EUR 250 million (Ukraine Sustainable Energy Lending Facility, USELF-III) will be fully implemented by the end of 2019.
As reported, the EBRD under the USELF program has been supporting the development of renewable energy in Ukraine since 2009. The program is aimed at assisting the state in achieving by 2020 the share of “green” generation in the country’s total energy consumption at 11% (including a 6% share of large hydropower plants).
Around 3,000 households in the period from July through September 2019 installed photovoltaic (PV) panels with a total capacity of almost 70 MW, the press service of the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving said on the website on Tuesday.
“The switch to clean electricity allows saving money on electricity bills, encourages the use of energy-efficient appliances, changes behavior to energy-saving,” the agency said.
According to the report, as of October 1, 2019, about 15,000 households in Ukraine are already using clean electricity by investing EUR 300 million in PV panels. The total capacity of the installed PV panels is almost 350 MW.
The leaders among the regions in the use of alternative generation are: Dnipropetrovsk region (around 50 MW), Ternopil (near 37 MW) and Kyiv (some 27 MW).
National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom in January-September 2019 doubled net profit year-over-year, to UAH 4.251 billion.
According to a company report in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market, its net revenue grew by 10.4%, to UAH 34.774 billion, and gross profit – by 10.8%, to UAH 8.082 billion.
As reported, in January-September 2019, Energoatom reduced electricity production by 0.5% (323.1 million kWh) compared to the same period in 2018, to 60.729 billion kWh. Power plants of Energoatom during this period released 57.02 billion kWh to the market compared with 57.376 billion kWh a year earlier.
In 2018, Energoatom increased its net profit by 21.2% compared to 2017, to UAH 4.632 billion, net income by 14.5%, to UAH 44.055 billion.
Energoatom is the operator of all four operating nuclear power plants in Ukraine. It operates 15 power units equipped with water-cooled power reactors with a total installed electric capacity of 13.835 GW.
Numbers of Ukrainian population by regions as of September 1, 2019
The economic growth of Ukraine in 2020 will be 3%, according to the basic macroeconomic forecast prepared by the analytical department of Alfa-Bank (Kyiv).
“We expect Ukraine’s economy to maintain moderate rate of growth in 2020, adding another 3% after 3.3% in 2019. This would be the fifth year of economic recovery in a row (only in the 2000s, Ukraine did enjoy a longer growth period),” according to the forecast posted on the bank’s website.
“Growing consumer demand should be the major driver for the economy next year. We also expect further expansion in investment, supported by maintained macro-financial stability and declining interest rates. However, economic growth would be limited by global economic cool down, some worsening in terms of trade (that is, the ratio of prices for key exports and imports), limited foreign direct investment, cutbacks in margins of some big sectors, and tighter labor market with regard to demographic challenges,” it says.
“Macro-financial stability, coupled with tight monetary policy, low imported inflation, and limited current needs in upward reviews of administratively regulated prices would facilitate further slowdown in inflation. However, strong growth in wages and consumer demand would exert some upside pressure on prices. We expect the growth in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to slow down from current 7.5% to 6.3% at the end of 2020,” according to the document.
The bank said the foreign exchange market will remain stable: the average annual hryvnia to U.S. dollar exchange rate is to be close to the indicators of 2017-2019. The average annual hryvnia exchange rate in 2020 will be UAH 26.65/$1, the bankers stated.
“Economic growth, maintained macro-financial stability, moderate fiscal deficit and declining interest rates would ease the debt burden for the state. According to our estimates, the public debt to GDP ratio will go down from 60.9% in 2018 to 52.7% in 2020,” the bank said.
