Internal and external debt of Ukraine in 2010-2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Emporium LLC from Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM group has become the owner of 8.856607% of shares of PFTS, Ukraine’s largest stock exchange by trading volume (both in Kiev), on the eve of its announced plans to increase its authorized capital by 93.7%.
According to PFTS’ message in the NSCM disclosure system, the exchange received information about the new shareholder on February 2.
It is specified that Emporium is owned by Crossgold Limited, which, in turn, is owned by SCM Financial Overseas Limited, 100% owned by Akhmetov
There is no information about the seller of these shares yet.
As reported, PFTS earlier announced plans to consider at the extraordinary remote shareholders’ meeting on February 6 an increase in the authorized capital (AC) from UAH 32.01 million to UAH 62.01 million, or by 93.7%, through the placement of an additional 30 thousand shares with a par value of UAH 1 thousand through additional contributions without making a public offering.
Preliminarily, the list of persons among whom the shares of the additional issue will be placed is limited to the existing shareholders, however, the meeting may expand it by other investors intending to purchase the shares.
The largest shareholder of PFTS since the beginning of 2022 is Bohai Commodity Exchange (BOCE Co. Limited, Hong Kong) with 49.9% of shares. According to the SEC disclosure system, there were no other shareholders with a stake of more than 5% at the end of the third quarter of 2023.
At the same time, Prime Holding LLC in mid-October 2023 announced its intention to acquire 2,835 shares of the exchange, which is 8.8566% of its authorized capital.
PFTS did not publish financial statements after 9 months of 2021. According to information from the last annual shareholders’ meeting, the exchange reduced its net loss in 2022 compared to 2021 by 8.6% to UAH 3.641 mln.
The volume of trading on PFTS in 2023, according to its data, increased 3.6 times – up to 320.8 billion UAH, which amounted to 63% of the total trading volume of securities trading organizers in Ukraine, including in December – 28.6 billion UAH, or 66% of the total trading volume in the country.
In particular, the volume of government bonds traded on PFTS in 2023 increased 3 times to UAH 308.6 billion, corporate bonds of Ukrainian issuers – 20 times to UAH 1 billion (due to the recovery of primary placements), bonds of foreign countries – 5 times to UAH 0.7 billion, but transactions with shares were carried out for only UAH 19.4 million.
In December 2023, 39 participants of trades on PFTS concluded transactions with 48 issues of securities (Ukrainian government bonds – 33, Eurobonds of Ukraine – 1, corporate bonds of Ukrainian issuers – 7, bonds of a foreign state – 6, shares of Ukrainian issuers – 1), and in total in 2023 transactions were concluded by 49 participants with 114 issues of securities.
As of January 1, 2024, the number of PFTS members admitted to trading was 51: 30 banks and 21 financial companies. 353 issues of securities were admitted to trading on the exchange, of which 119 were in the Exchange Register.
At one time, LLC Emporium, established in 2007, was the owner of regional breweries OJSC PBC Krym, CJSC Dnipropetrovsk Brewery Dnipro, CJSC Firma Poltavpivo and OJSC Lugansk Brewery, but later SCM withdrew from this business. Emporium’s core business is commercial and management consulting.
Forecast of changes in discount rate of National Bank of Ukraine, % 
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
A number of leading agrarian associations have appealed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine with a request to influence the resolution of the situation on the possible deterioration of trade conditions with the European Union in agro-food products, the press service of the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business (UCAB) reported.
The association was reminded that on June 6, 2024, the EU’s additional trade preferences for Ukraine, under which the existing customs tariffs and tariff quotas for all categories of goods were canceled for Ukrainian exports, will expire. On January 31, the European Commission officially published a draft EU Regulation on the extension of autonomous trade preferences for Ukraine for the next calendar year (from June 6, 2024 to June 5, 2025).
It is stated that the draft regulation introduces restrictions on imports to the EU of certain groups of goods (chicken, sugar and eggs) “sensitive” for European agricultural producers. In particular, it is proposed to renew the tariff quotas agreed within the framework of the Full and Comprehensive Free Trade Area between Ukraine and the EU for these commodity groups if from January 1, 2024 the volumes of their imports from Ukraine exceed the arithmetic average of import volumes for 2022-2023. According to EU legislation, the draft regulation still has to be considered in the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers.
“For the agri-food sector of Ukraine, these preferences were particularly important, canceling a number of tariff quotas on imports to the EU market for key export goods – from cereals and oilseeds to sugar, poultry meat, eggs, fruit and vegetable products – and providing an opportunity for Ukrainian exporters to maintain production, jobs and ensure the receipt of foreign currency earnings during 2022-2023,” the associations noted in their appeal.
At the same time, they cited data from the State Customs Service, according to which agro-exports of Ukraine for 2023 amounted to 61% of total exports of goods from Ukraine and were equivalent to $21.9 billion, compared to 53% and $23.4 billion respectively a year earlier.
At the same time, the EU’s share in total agri-food exports from Ukraine in 2023 amounted to 56.6% (55.1% in 2022), or $12.4 billion ($12.9 billion respectively).
“The issue of maintaining maximum open access for Ukrainian agri-food products to the EU market will be vital for Ukraine’s trade balance in the coming years and the survival of Ukraine’s agricultural sector. If trade restrictions are implemented, Ukraine will face a significant reduction in foreign currency earnings from exports of major agri-food products,” the business community predicts.
Agrarian associations called on the government to facilitate access of Ukrainian agro-products to the EU market and the establishment of a direct dialog with European partners. In particular, they ask to include in the agenda of the next Ukraine-EU Summit the issues of continuation of autonomous trade preferences for Ukrainian agro-food products with minimum restrictions and preservation of the activity of the Ukraine-EU Trade Coordination Platform as the main platform for exchange of information on current issues in trade.
The appeal was signed by the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Forum, the Ukrainian Agrarian Business Club, the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Rada, the Union of Poultry Farmers of Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation.
leading agrarian associations, trade conditions with the European Union, Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business
Most often, collaborators, thieves and fraudsters are wanted
More than 7,000 people were put on the wanted list last year, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Most often, people are wanted for collaboration, theft, and fraud. Most of the wanted people are between the ages of 24 and 45.
7422 people were put on the wanted list in 2023 in Ukraine. This is the highest number in the last five years and 40% more than in 2021. On the eve of the full-scale search, 5,269 people were put on the wanted list in a year.
In 2023, the most common reason for being put on the wanted list was collaboration (Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code) – 21.7%. The top reasons for putting a person on the wanted list also include theft (Article 185 of the CCU) – 18.2%, high treason (Article 111 of the CCU) – 5.3%, and fraud (Article 190) – 4.8%.
44% of the persons in the registry were put on the wanted list in the frontline regions. Donetsk region leads the list with 752 persons (10.1%), followed by Kharkiv region with 696 (9.4%), Kherson region with 637 (8.6%), Zaporizhzhia region with 620 (8.4%) and Luhansk region with 561 (7.6%).
Almost half of the wanted persons are hiding from the pre-trial investigation authorities – 3,299 people, or 44%. The second place goes to those who are hiding from the court – 2,126 people. The top three are people who have been sentenced to a non-custodial sentence – 1,183 people.
Almost 18% of the wanted persons have been authorized to be detained, and another 15% should be kept in custody.
79% of wanted persons are men, women account for 21% of the total number in 2023.
The majority of people on the wanted list in 2023 are between the ages of 25 and 45. The oldest wanted person is 87 years old, and the youngest is 6 years old.
In total, as of the end of January 2024, 55,992 people were wanted.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/person-wanted-2023
External financing of the state budget as of june 14, 2023, USD bln
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
