Almost 194 thousand new sole proprietorships were opened by Ukrainians in 8 months of 2024, according to the Unified State Register (USR). 60% of new businesses were started by women. During the same period, just over 120 thousand businesses were closed. More than a third of new businesses close in the first year of operation.
193,192 new sole proprietorships were registered since the beginning of the year. This is even more than before the outbreak of full-scale war, when 186,144 new cases were opened in the same period. After a significant decline at the beginning of the great invasion, the number of new registrations has stabilized and has remained at the same level for the second year in a row.
Most new businesses were opened by entrepreneurs in the capital – 26,303 or 13.6% of the total number of new businesses this year. New businesses are also being actively registered in Dnipropetrovs’k (18,025), Lviv (14,459), Kyiv (14,428), and Kharkiv (12,954) regions.
The most noticeable increase in the number of new fops over the year was in Zaporizhzhia region – by 11%, Kirovohrad region – by 10%, and Chernihiv region – by 9.6%. At the same time, business activity slowed down significantly in the frontline Luhansk (-14.7%) and Ivano-Frankivsk (-8%) regions. Despite the fact that Kharkiv region is among the regions with the largest number of new firms, the number of registrations in this region decreased by 6% compared to the previous year.
One third of new businesses are opened in the trade sector, and the IT sector attracts 7.6% of new entrepreneurs. The top three most popular areas for new business start-ups are personal services (7%). It is worth noting that the top has undergone some changes over the year: in 2023, cafes and restaurants were among the leaders, but this year they were replaced by information services.
The share of women among newly minted businessmen reached a record high of 60%. For comparison, in 2023, this figure was 55.6%, and in the first year of full-scale business, it was 47%.
Currently, the number of new cases is 1.6 times higher than the number of closed ones. Thus, 120,154 fops have been closed in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. Newly established businesses suffered the most: 24.5% of those that were opened last year closed, and 13.7% of those that opened this year. The median period of operation of the fops closed this year is 2 years and 7 months.
The largest number of fops closed in Kyiv – 13% (15,770), Kharkiv – 8% (10,097) and Dnipropetrovs’k – 8% (9,931) regions.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/foponomics-2024-9
NEC Ukrenergo plans on Monday, September 2, to apply electricity restrictions for all regions in 1-2 queues throughout the day, NEC Ukrenergo said in Telegram.
In particular, from 00:00 to 16:00 there will be one queue of disconnections, from 16:00 to 24:00 – two.
The Ukrainian delegation in Washington handed over to the US partners a list of necessary equipment under the agreements at the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2024) in Berlin in June on the allocation of $800 million for the energy sector, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko said.
“We are deeply grateful to the US for its support for the construction of passive defense systems, as well as for the $800 million funding package for the energy sector. During this visit, we provided a list of critical equipment drawn up by the Cabinet of Ministers for immediate repair,” she wrote in the network X following the visit of the Ukrainian delegation under her leadership to the United States.
At the same time, Sviridenko noted that energy was one of the key topics during her trip to the United States, the operational steps to restore which she discussed, in particular, with Deputy Energy Secretary David M. Turk.
“I appreciate David M. Turk’s clear message that the U.S. is ready to support us with both much-needed equipment and technical support for its installation,” Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister pointed out.
She added in the message that Russian airstrikes affected more than 50 percent of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
On Monday, September 2, in the south-eastern part of Ukraine, and at night and in Zhytomyr, Khmelnytsky, Vinnitsa and Odessa regions in some places small short-term rains, thunderstorms, reports Ukrhydrometcenter. In the rest of the territory without precipitation.
The wind is predominantly northeasterly, 5-10 m/s. In the eastern regions in the afternoon in some places gusts of 15-20 m/s.
The temperature at night 17-22°, in the western regions 13-18°, in the afternoon 27-32°.
In Kiev without precipitation, northeast wind, 5-10 m/s. The temperature at night about 20 °, in the daytime 28-30 °.
As reported by the Central Geophysical Observatory named after. Borys Sreznevsky, the highest temperature during the day on September 2 in Kiev was recorded in 2015 and amounted to 35.7 °, the lowest at night – 5.7 ° in 1940.
On Tuesday, September 3, in the southern part, in some places in the eastern and central regions short-term rains, thunderstorms. In the rest of the territory without precipitation.
Wind east, northeast, 7-12 m/s, in the eastern and central regions gusts of 15-20 m/s in some places.
The temperature at night is 15-20°, in western regions 12-17°. During the day 27-32°.
In Kiev without precipitation, wind east, northeast, 7-12 m/s. The temperature at night 17-19°, during the day about 30°.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) this week again increased net sales of foreign currency on the interbank market to $646.30 million from $624.49 million a week earlier, according to the regulator’s data. According to them, the central bank refrained from buying foreign currency for the third week in a row, while sales jumped from $624.49m to $646.30m.
The official hryvnia exchange rate rose by 17 kopecks over the week. – UAH/$1 to 41.0592 UAH/$1, while on the cash market the hryvnia strengthened by about 11 kopecks when buying – to 41.30 UAH/$1 and by 10 kopecks when selling – to 41.40 UAH/$1
Since the beginning of 2024, the dollar at the official rate has appreciated by 8%, or by UAH 3.05, and since the transition of the National Bank on October 3, 2023 to the regime of managed flexibility – by 12.3%, or by UAH 4.49.
Thus, this month the hryvnia managed to fall by 0.1%, or by 5 kopecks, while in July the official hryvnia exchange rate fell by 1.4%, or by 55 kopecks – to 41.0063 UAH/$1. In June, its decline slowed to 3 kopecks after weakening by 90 kopecks in May.
As evidenced by the data that the NBU managed to publish for this period, from Monday to Thursday the negative balance between the volume of currency purchases and sales by the population gradually widened from $5.96 mln to $36.63 mln.
Ukraine’s international reserves in July, according to preliminary estimates of the National Bank, decreased by 1.8%, or $572.3 million – to $37 billion 231.9 million, while net international reserves (NIR) fell by $3 billion – to $23.30 billion. According to the quantitative performance criterion (QPC) in the updated program of expanded financing of the EFF, Ukraine’s NIR at the end of September this year should be at least $28.8 billion, and at the end of the year – at least $26.3 billion.
At the same time, according to the Ministry of Finance, Ukraine received about $8.4bn of external financing in August. In particular, $4.5bn from the EU under the Ukraine Facility, of which $1.6bn is a grant, as well as $3.9bn grant from the US through the World Bank’s PEACE in Ukraine project.
The World Bank Board of Directors has approved a new $415 million systemic project in Ukraine, “Making Education Accessible and Resilient in Ukraine’s Crisis (LEARN),” aimed at improving primary and secondary education in Ukraine, reaching one million students, teachers, and school staff.
“It is critical to mitigate the impact of war on children, especially those from the most vulnerable families, by minimizing disruption to the learning process,” World Bank Regional Director for Eastern Europe Bob Soma was quoted as saying in a World Bank release on Saturday night.
It is specified that the LEARN programs include measures aimed at improving overall school safety conditions, providing free transportation for vulnerable students, conducting teacher training, purchasing textbooks and improving governance in the education sector. The project also aims to help implement a comprehensive education reform in grades 1-12, known as the New Ukrainian School (NUS), which is aligned with EU standards, the WB pointed out.
“The LEARN project will help thousands of Ukrainian students return to a protected learning environment,” Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko was quoted as saying in the release.
It is specified that the project is implemented using the financial instrument “Program-for-results, Program-for-results” (PforR).
The Ministry of Finance notes that LEARN is aimed at improving conditions for teaching and learning, implemented at the expense of subventions from the state budget to local budgets.
The WB notes that initial funding for the LEARN program includes $235 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (IBRD) ADVANCE Ukraine Trust Fund, $150 million from the International Development Association’s (IDA) Special Program for the Reconstruction of Ukraine and Moldova, and $30 million from the Ukraine Support, Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reform Trust Fund (URTF). The program provides results-based financing that can be scaled up if additional funds are available.
