KYIV. Sept 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The total volume of investment transactions in the secondary real estate market in Ukraine in the second half of the year could potentially amount to about $10-20 million, DTZ consulting company has reported in a survey for the first half of 2015.
“It is difficult to predict the actual semi-annual rate due to the current instability in Ukraine and uncertainty regarding the further development of the country,” the company said.
The company indicates that the rate of return from investment in real estate in Kyiv from June 2014 to June 2015 had not changed and will be stable by the end of the year.
According to DTZ, at the end of the first half of 2015 net yield rates for office and commercial premises in the capital were at a level of 13.5%, for logistics facilities at 15%. In general, during this period, total investment in the secondary real estate market amounted to $40 million.
“During the first six months of 2015 the most active sellers of real estate in Ukraine were commercial banks, which confiscated real estate from borrowers unable to pay debts. The banks offered the discounts of 10% to 30% of the book value of assets put up for sale,” reads the report.
KYIV. Sept 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A memorandum on grain exports in the 2015/2016 marketing year (July-June) between grain traders and the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food will be signed after September 20, 2015.
“This year the memorandum has not been signed, yet. We will sign it after September 20, when there will be data on the quality of harvested wheat,” President of the Ukrainian Grain Association Volodymyr Klymenko said at a press conference in Kyiv.
He added that Ukraine has harvested a good wheat yield this year, and the country also has rather large wheat ending stocks from last year.
“This year we expect the harvest to reach 60 million tonnes. We do not know what we’ll have on corn, Europe has lost 20% of its harvest,” the expert said.
According to him, since the beginning of the MY, Ukraine has exported 5.817 million tonnes of grain, specifically wheat – 2.64 million tonnes, barley – 1.86 million tonnes, and corn – 1.3 million tonnes.
KYIV. Sept 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will issue a credit line of up to EUR75 million to Ukrainian banks as financing of the residential sector energy efficiency program, which at the first phase includes OTP Bank and Raiffeisen Bank Aval in the program (both based in Kyiv).
Senior Communications Adviser at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Anton Usov told Interfax-Ukraine that the bank’s board of directors approved the relevant projects at a meeting on September 2.
It is expected that the EBRD will provide funds to financial institutions, which, in turn, will lend to end borrowers in the housing sector, including individual homeowners, groups of homeowners, housing associations, construction associations and cooperatives. These projects should foresee the use of investment in high technology and energy efficiency measures to reduce energy consumption by at least 20%.
The document states that the bank’s funds are supplemented with the mobilized hryvnia resources of Ukrainian banks participating in the program in the amount of up to EUR65 million.
KYIV. Sept 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian Parliament has passed at second reading draft law No. 0052 on ratifying the agreement (in the form of exchange of notes) between the Ukrainian and Japanese governments on the provision of a loan to realize the project to modernize the Bortnychi aeration station as part of the implementation of the project to reconstruct sewage treatment facilities and the construction of a production line for sewage-sludge treatment and utilization of the Bortnychi aeration station.
A total of 265 lawmakers supported the law.
The law ratified the agreement signed on June 6, 2015 in Kyiv between Ukraine and Japan on the provision of a loan of JPY 108.193 billion (around $901 million).
The agreement foresees that the crediting term is 40 years with a payment grace period of 10 years. The credit rate is 0.1%. A Japanese company will be the general contractor of the project and the volume of Japanese goods used during the realization of the project is to be at least 30% of the cost of the contract.
KYIV. Sept 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the financial plan of state enterprise Energoatom (Kyiv) for 2015 with a projected net profit of UAH 1.2 billion.
“[The enterprise will make a] UAH 1.2 billion net profit after two years of losses,” Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn said after a cabinet meeting.
He added that, according to the financial plan, Energoatom in 2015 will pay UAH 6 billion in various taxes to the budget.
As reported, Energoatom is the operator of all four operating nuclear power plants in Ukraine. It operates 15 units equipped with VVER reactors with a total installed electrical capacity of 13.835 GW.
KYIV. Sept 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Twenty-two member states of the European Union have already completed the ratification of Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said,
“As of today, 22 EU member states have already ratified [the agreement]…This process has been completed in the legal aspect,” he said during a joint meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committees for European Integration and Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.
Klimkin said that six EU countries are yet to complete ratification: the Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece and Cyprus, adding that the process is ongoing in the latter two countries.
According to Klimkin, the key political parties in Greece have promised Ukraine that the ratification process will be speeded up as soon as the upcoming elections in Greece are held, a position echoed by the Greek Foreign Ministry.
“As for Cyprus, the situation is connected with the parliament’s desire to see our final aspiration and devotion to this affair, to put amendments to the convention on evading double taxation. There is an essential lobby in the Cyprian parliament [on this issue]. Now this issue has been settled,” Klimkin said,
In addition, he said that on September 4-5 there will be an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss strengthening the influence of the EU in the Eastern Partnership countries.
Klimkin said that the foreign ministers will also discuss the strategic vision of the development of EU – Russian relations, as well as the ongoing process of reform in Ukraine.
