The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will issue a $10 million loan to Sodrugestvo agro-industrial group, one of the world’s largest soybean processors. According to information on the bank’s website, the funds will be used to finance working capital for the group’s subsidiaries in Serbia and Ukraine.
In addition, the EBRD is organizing a $80 million loan to finance capital expenditures and working capital for a Sodrugestvo subsidiary in Turkey. It is expected that the EBRD will issue $55 million, and the rest of the loan ($25 million) will be syndicated. The cost of the entire project is estimated at $87.5 million. The funds will be used to partially finance the purchase of a production facility in Izmir (Turkey), upgrade the acquired object and finance working capital to expand activities in Turkey.
According to the bank, the financing will allow the company to expand the supplier base in Ukraine and Serbia and support the purchase of assets in Turkey.
Sodrugestvo Group was founded in 1994. It has headquarters in Luxembourg and over 30 enterprises in 20 countries. The company operates in the regions of Russia, the CIS, Scandinavia, Northern Europe, the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, Central and Latin America.
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine has promulgated a draft law that proposes raising financial support for tour operators by 10 times and introducing fines for illegal use of categories by hotels.
According to the text of the draft law posted on the ministry’s website, the amount of financial provision for a tour operator should be at least 5% of the annual sales volume for the previous year, but not less than EUR 200,000 for the operator offering outbound tourism services (against EUR 20,000 in current legislation), not less than EUR 100,000 for tour operators of inbound and domestic tourism (against EUR 10,000), not less than EUR 50,000 for operators of domestic tourism. At the same time, financial support for travel agents must be at least 5% of the annual sales volume, but not less than EUR 20,000.
The size of guarantees for newly established tour operators is equal to the lower threshold depending on the chosen type of tourism, or EUR 10,000 per travel agent.
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade also proposes stipulating fines for violators of tourism legislation, in particular, for illegal use of tourist infrastructure categories and not providing tourist entry and departure under the contract in the amount of 100-500 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens, and for repeated violations during the year some 800-1,000 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens.
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of july 9
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
National bank of ukraine’s official rates as of 09/07/19
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made it clear that his visit to the United States may take place this summer.
“Discussions are under way. Everyone has a busy calendar, they are looking into dates. It may happen in summer, as I understand,” he told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on the way from Mariyinsky Palace to the Presidential Office after the Ukraine-EU summit.
In the middle of June, Kurt Volker, the United States Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, said that the exact date of Zelensky’s visit to Washington, D.C., had not been set yet. “Donald Trump sent an invitation to President Zelensky to visit the White House. However, the dates of this visit are to be agreed,” he said.
Ukraine as of July 8, 2019 had threshed grain and leguminous crops on an area of 3.4 million hectares (35% of the forecast), harvesting 11.3 million tonnes of grain, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has reported on its website.
According to the ministry, farmers collected 7.3 million tonnes of wheat from an area of 2.1 million hectares (32% of the forecast), 3.6 million tonnes of barley from 1.1 million hectares (43% of the forecast), 402,000 tonnes of peas from 187,000 ha (66% of the forecast).
In addition, farmers continue harvesting winter rapeseeds, having threshed 1.1 million tonnes from an area of 519,000 hectares (40% of the forecast).
According to the ministry, farmers from six regions, namely Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, and Ivano-Frankivsk, have started harvesting rye, and as of July 8 had already threshed 2,000 tonnes from 600 ha (0.5% to the forecast). Agrarians of four regions, including Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, and Odesa, began harvesting oats, having threshed 1,500 tonnes from 1,000 hectares (0.4% of the forecast).
