INGO Insurance Company (Kyiv) collected insurance premiums in the amount of UAH 2.46 billion for 9 months of 2024, which is 23.5% more than in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.
It is noted that, according to experts of the National Association of Insurers of Ukraine (NASU), this corresponds to the average growth rate of the Ukrainian insurance market for the reporting period, which is 23%.
The company also reports that during the reporting period, there was an increase in demand for insurance products in the hull insurance segment (+25.3%), MTPL (+35.5%), property insurance (+47%), health insurance for those traveling abroad (+51.3%), and accident insurance (+25.7%). At the same time, both the number of clients and the volume of premiums increased in property and motor insurance.
It is also noted that revenues from individuals increased by 35% to UAH 735 million. At the same time, premiums in the corporate insurance segment increased by 19% to UAH 1.73 billion. According to the National Insurance Agency of Ukraine, INGO is the leader in this segment.
During the reporting period, INGO paid more than UAH 1.08 billion in indemnities, which is 32% more than last year. The largest amounts were paid under voluntary health insurance contracts – over UAH 419 million, hull insurance – UAH 328 million, property insurance – UAH 273 million. Over UAH 184 million was reimbursed for losses incurred by agricultural producers.
As of November 1, 2024, the company’s reserves increased by 11%, reaching almost UAH 2 billion, and equity increased by 16% to UAH 1.34 billion. At the same time, highly liquid assets amounted to UAH 3.02 billion, which is 3% more than last year.
During the reporting period, INGO increased the amount of taxes paid to the budgets of all levels by 23% to UAH 185 million.
By the end of 2024, INGO expects a further increase in insurance premiums due to market concentration and the introduction of new technologies. Particular attention will be paid to the digitalization of processes to improve customer service, the statement said.
INGO Insurance Company JSC holds licenses for 18 classes of insurance and has been providing insurance services to both individuals and companies for 30 years. Its network includes 25 branches, 5 offices and 9 customer service centers operating in all regions of the country. The company is one of the largest insurance companies in Ukraine in terms of premiums, own assets and insurance claims.
Since 2017, the main shareholder is the Ukrainian business group DCH.
Austria has pledged to provide additional humanitarian support to Ukraine in the amount of EUR 8 million and will also provide EUR 2 million for the Ukrainian initiative Grain from Ukraine, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said.
“And today I can announce that we have committed to provide additional humanitarian support to Ukraine in the amount of EUR8 million: EUR5 million for the World Food Programme’s mine action program and EUR3 million for humanitarian assistance through international organizations working in Ukraine and Moldova,” said Schallenberg at a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sibiga on Wednesday.
He also announced the allocation of additional funds for the Grain from Ukraine initiative.
“And I am pleased to announce that we will provide EUR2 million in addition to the EUR2 million allocated by the Austrian Development Agency for the Grain from Ukraine initiative, which I believe is important to reduce the impact of Putin’s war on global food security,” the minister said.
The foreign minister noted that at the bilateral level alone, his country provided EUR264 million in support to Ukraine, which was directed to humanitarian and financial assistance.
As of November 19, farmers in all regions of Ukraine sowed more than 6.14 million hectares of winter crops, up from 6 million hectares last week, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.
According to the report, almost 5.06 million hectares were sown with winter crops, which is 98% of the forecast. In particular, winter wheat has been sown on 4.4 million hectares (4.3 million hectares a week earlier), which is 98% of the forecasted area under the crop, barley – on 610.5 thousand hectares (577.8 thousand hectares) and 96%, rye – on 68.6 thousand hectares (68.1 thousand hectares) and 97%, rapeseed – on 1.08 million hectares (1.07 million hectares) and 96%.
Agrarians in 14 regions have completed sowing winter grains, and 12 regions have completed sowing winter rapeseed.
According to the Ministry, the leaders in terms of winter grain sowing are farmers in Odesa – 760 thou hectares, Dnipro – 532 thou hectares, and Mykolaiv – 503.1 thou hectares.
As of November 14, a year earlier, Ukraine planted 5.8 mln ha of winter crops, including 4.022 mln ha of wheat, 506 thou ha of barley, 77 thou ha of rye, and 1.159 mln ha of rapeseed.
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine is closed in Kyiv on November 20 and recommends that U.S. citizens be prepared to take shelter immediately in the event of an air raid alert.
The office of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kyiv (AmCham) is also closed today. The organization’s team is available online.
As of September 30, 2024, 4 million 197.37 thousand non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, had temporary protection status in the EU, compared to 4 million 163.66 thousand citizens a month earlier, Eurostat reports.
“Compared to the end of August 2024, the largest absolute increase in the number of recipients was observed in Germany (+7,005; +0.6%), Poland (+4,645; +0.5%) and Spain (+3,170; +1.5%),” the agency said.
It noted that the number of beneficiaries decreased in France (-570; -0.9%) and Italy (-10; -0.0%).
Thus, in September, the growth in the number of refugees from Ukraine with temporary protection status slowed to 33.7 thousand from 39.8 thousand in August.
According to Eurostat, despite Germany’s deprivation of almost 237,000 people of this status in July, it still remains the country with the largest number of them in the EU and the world – 1,129,34 thousand at the end of September, or 26.9% of the total number of beneficiaries in the EU.
The top three also includes Poland – 979.84 thousand, or 23.3%, and the Czech Republic – 378.48 thousand, or 9.0%.
Spain (218.30 thousand), Romania (172.41 thousand), and Italy (166.79 thousand) follow with a significant lag.
At the same time, Eurostat clarified that the data for Spain, Greece and Cyprus take into account some people whose temporary protection status is no longer valid.
According to the agency, compared to the population of each EU member state, the largest number of temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people in September 2024 was observed in the Czech Republic (34.7), Lithuania (28.1) and Poland (26.8), while the corresponding figure at the EU level is 9.3.
It is also said that as of September 30, 2024, Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98.3% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection. Adult women accounted for almost half (45.0%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU, children for almost a third (32.3%), while adult men accounted for slightly more than a fifth (22.7%) of the total. A year earlier, the share of women was 46.5%, children 33.7% and adult men 19.9%.
At the end of September 2024, there were also more than 100 thousand people with temporary protection status in Slovakia – 126.97 thousand, the Netherlands – 119.01 thousand, and Ireland – 107.93 thousand.
Between 50 thousand and 100 thousand of them were in Belgium – 84.54 thousand, Austria – 81.91 thousand, Lithuania – 81.07 thousand, Norway – 76.11 thousand, Finland – 67.27 thousand, Switzerland – 66.63 thousand, Bulgaria – 64.32 thousand, Portugal – 63.66 thousand and France – 60.10 thousand (data on children are mostly not included – Eurostat).
This is followed by Latvia – 46.99 thousand people, Sweden – 44.63 thousand, Hungary – 37.99 thousand, Denmark – 36.93 thousand, Estonia – 34.24 thousand, Greece – 31.78 thousand, Croatia – 25.40 thousand, Cyprus – 21.68 thousand, Iceland – 3.92 thousand, Luxembourg – 3.82 thousand, Malta – 2.16 thousand and Liechtenstein – 0.66 thousand.
Eurostat clarified that all the above data relate to the granting of temporary protection on the basis of EU Council Decision 2022/382 of March 4, 2022, which establishes the existence of a massive influx of displaced persons from Ukraine due to Russia’s military invasion and entails the introduction of temporary protection. On June 25, 2024, the European Council decided to extend temporary protection for these persons from March 4, 2025 to March 4, 2026.
According to updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of October 15 this year was estimated at 6.192 million, and 6.752 million in the world as a whole, which is 38 thousand and 27 thousand more than as of September 24 this year.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data as of August this year, there were 3.669 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), which is 121 thousand more than in April this year.
According to regional authorities cited by the UN, between August 1 and October 3, more than 120,000 people left Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, including 19,500 who fled active hostilities. In Sumy region, the authorities estimate that 36,000 people, including 6,000 children, have been evacuated.
As noted by Deputy Economy Minister Serhiy Sobolev in early March last year, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP. In its macroeconomic forecast for this year, the Ministry of Economy has included 1.5 million people returning to Ukraine.
At the same time, the National Bank, in its October inflation report, again downgraded its forecast for the outflow from Ukraine this year from 0.4 million to 0.5 million. In absolute terms, the number of migrants staying abroad is expected to increase to 6.8 million this year.
In the new report, the National Bank confirmed its expectation that Ukrainians will start returning home in 2026, but lowered its forecast for net inflows in 2026 to 0.2 million from 0.4 million.
Kyivstar, the largest mobile operator in Ukraine, intends to invest UAH 1.43 billion in the 1940-1945/2130-2135 MHz and 2355-2395 MHz radio frequency spectrum, the company’s press service said on Tuesday.
It is also specified that the company’s receipt of additional radio frequency spectrum for use for 15 years will significantly enhance its ability to expand 4G coverage and improve the quality of services in all regions of the country.
The company noted the important role of Kyivstar in the development of the electronic communications industry in Ukraine, in particular in the implementation of 4G. The press service reminded that it was Kyivstar that offered the state an innovative approach to solving the problem of fragmented frequency spectrum: in 2018, the company supported the proposal of the national regulator, returning the 1800 MHz frequency band to the state. This made it possible to hold a transparent auction, which resulted in UAH 5.43 billion for the state budget and high-quality 4G coverage for consumers across the country.
In 2020, Kyivstar voluntarily returned the 900 MHz frequency band to the state free of charge for the second time.
“To further eliminate the digital divide between urban and rural areas, it was important to deploy 4G in the lower 900 MHz frequency band, which allows us to provide wider coverage, especially along roads and in remote areas. However, spectrum shortages and fragmentation in this band also slowed down the technological development of the market,” Kyivstar’s press service said.
The company’s CEO Oleksandr Komarov expressed gratitude to the National Commission for the State Regulation of Electronic Communications, Radio Frequency Spectrum and Postal Services (NCCS), the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the state for preparing and holding a transparent auction for the allocation of frequencies in the 2100-2300-2600MHz spectrum, which will allow to develop infrastructure and improve the quality of mobile services for subscribers.
“The auction for licenses to use the radio frequency spectrum is an important step in the development of Ukraine’s electronic communications industry and evidence that the war does not stop investments in state assets, and their effective management can bring significant funds to the budget,” Kyivstar’s press service quoted Komarov as saying.
The company also clarified that participation in the auction for licenses to use the radio frequency spectrum in the 2024 bands is part of the investment program of Kyivstar and its parent company VEON, according to which it is planned to attract $1 billion to the Ukrainian economy in 2023-2027.
Earlier it was reported that the National Commission held an auction for the use of mobile frequencies. “Kyivstar, Vodafone-Ukraine (VF-Ukraine) and lifecell (Lifecell) received new frequencies in the 2100, 2300 and 2600 MHz bands for 15 years, offering a total of UAH 2 billion 894.734 million for them at an initial total price of UAH 2 billion 871.531 million.
In accordance with the terms of the technology-neutral nationwide licenses established by the NCC, each of the winners undertook to ensure the use of the received frequency band at at least 1,500 base stations within 24 months from the date of the license’s commencement, and at least 500 base stations within the first 12 months.
“Kyivstar acquired the right to use the frequencies in the 1940-1945/2130-2135 MHz band (without Kyiv) for 15 years for UAH 448 million 500 thousand, and in the 2355-2395 MHz band for UAH 994 million 800 thousand.
