Germany’s GDP in the fourth quarter of 2024 decreased by 0.2% compared to the previous three months, according to a report by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), which presented preliminary data. The consensus forecast of experts, cited by Trading Economics, predicted a 0.1% decline in GDP.
Consumer and government spending increased last quarter, but exports declined significantly, Destatis said.
In annual terms, the country’s GDP also decreased by 0.2% in October-December, adjusted for the number of working days. Analysts on average did not expect any changes. In the third quarter, Germany’s economy grew by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter and shrank by 0.3% year-on-year, as previously reported.
For the whole of 2024, it decreased by 0.2% after a 0.3% decline a year earlier. Final data on the dynamics of German GDP for the fourth quarter will be published on February 25.
PJSC “HC ‘Kyivmiskbud’ has officially started the process of preparation for additional capitalization, there are also expectations of financial assistance from the government and participation in additional capitalization from minority shareholders, said Vladislav Andronov, Deputy Chairman of the KSCA on the implementation of self-governing powers, Chairman of the Commission for solving problematic issues related to the activities of ‘Kyivmiskbud’, at a meeting with investors on Wednesday.
He reminded that a meeting of the company’s shareholders is scheduled for February 14, at which it is planned to consider the issue of bringing the company’s charter and internal regulatory documents in compliance with the current legislation, as well as creating the necessary conditions for an additional issue of shares. According to Andronov, after making amendments to the charter and regulations on the supervisory board, the issue of the additional issue itself may be decided at the next meeting.
“There is a textual norm in the city budget that in case the decision is taken by the meeting of shareholders of Kyivmiskbud on additional capitalization, such funds, about UAH 2.6 billion, are provided for. Regarding minority shareholders (they own 20% of KGS), the city is interested in their participation in additional capitalization”, – Andronov said.
As reported, the Kyiv City Council supported the decision (No. 155/9964) to increase the authorized capital of PJSC “HC ‘Kyivmiskbud’ to stabilize the financial position of the company through an additional issue and purchase of shares up to UAH 2.56 billion. The Kyiv City Council also supported the decision (No. 155/9963) to request the Cabinet of Ministers to consider compensating HC Kyivmiskbud for the total planned losses of UAH 2.28 billion related to the completion of Ukrbud’s facilities, in particular by means of soft loans and other forms of assistance.
As for compensation for “Ukrbud” facilities, the city is actively corresponding with the Government, but most of the responses from ministries and departments are formally negative. In particular, the director of the Department of Intergovernmental Relations and Local Budgets Policy of the Ministry of Finance, Oleksandr Koren, replied that “the issue of realization of the above-mentioned compensation at the expense of the state budget can be considered only within the limits of its financial capabilities, which are extremely limited under the conditions of acute budget deficit caused by the martial law conditions”.
Thus, the main hope of investors to launch Kyivmiskbudget projects is on additional issue from the city budget resources. According to Andronov, after passing all the procedures, the Kyiv City Council plans to allocate budgeted funds to the company during 2025. Regarding the stage of restoration of projects and terms of their completion – this will be decided directly in “Kyivmiskbud”, taking into account the financial capacity and construction readiness of projects.
As reported, in March 2024 the Kyiv City State Administration established a temporary commission to solve problematic issues related to the activities of PJSC “HC ‘Kyivmiskbud’.
According to the results of the audit of “Kyivmiskbud”, conducted in 2023 by the state enterprise “Baker Tilly Ukraine Consulting”, LLC “Audit firm NHD-AUDIT” and LLC “Ernst & Young”, it was found that there were no signs of actions to bring the company to bankruptcy, concealment of the facts of financial insolvency or mass transactions by related parties. At the same time, the auditors found that the activity of Kyivmiskbud was disturbed due to external factors: COVID-19, full-scale war, the factor of “Ukrbud”.
HC “Kyivmiskbud” was established on the basis of the property of the state municipal construction corporation “Kyivmiskbud” in 1994 by combining in its authorized capital controlling stakes of 28 enterprises and other assets. The HC includes 40 JSCs, in which the company holds shares, six subsidiaries and 51 enterprises on the rights of associate member.
The main shareholder of PJSC HC Kyivmiskbud, according to the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NCSSM), is Kyiv City Council (80%).
China’s total non-financial direct investment (ODI) overseas in 2024 rose 10.5 percent to $143.85 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said. The amount of money invested in states along the Belt and Road rose 5.4 percent to $33.69 billion, Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying.
The number of workers sent abroad last year reached 409,000, up 17.9 percent. As a result, 594,000 Chinese workers were employed abroad at the end of December.
The amount of overseas contracting work performed by Chinese companies rose 3.1% to $165.97 billion.
As reported, China’s total ODI grew 6% through 2023.
State-owned enterprise NAEK Energoatom (Kiev) announced a tender for compulsory motor third party liability insurance for owners of land vehicles (MTPL) on January 28.
As reported in the Prozorro electronic public procurement system, the total expected cost of purchasing the services is UAH 1.591 mln.
The deadline for submitting tender documents is February 5.
The Supervisory Board of PZU SA on January 27 dismissed Artur Olech from the company’s Management Board, the company announced on its website.
Also, at the same time, a resolution was passed to delegate Andrzej Klesik, a member of the Supervisory Board of PZU SA, to temporarily act as president of the Management Board of PZU SA until the appointment of the president of the Management Board of PZU SA, but for a period not exceeding three months.
Both decrees entered into force upon adoption, the report emphasized.
According to the report, Andrzej Klesik is a graduate of the Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Social Sciences, (specializing in economics), and Harvard Business School, where he received an MBA degree. In addition, he has attended numerous training courses abroad related to the financial sector and management, including global training for partners and managing directors of The Boston Consulting Group. He has significant consulting experience in the financial and insurance sectors.
In particular, he has served as President of the Board of Inteligo Financial Services SA., Managing Director of The Boston Consulting Group in Warsaw, Member of the Board of Management of Bankgesellschaft Berlin Polska, President of the Board of Management of PZU SA, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Chairman of the Audit Committee at NKBM Maribor, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Best SA., led the first wave of restructuring of Ethnika, the largest insurance company in Greece, and since 2020 he is Managing Partner at Cornestone Partners, where he is responsible for several portfolio companies.
He also led the IPO of PZU, the largest IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange at the time.
PZU Group is one of the largest financial institutions in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. The Group is led by Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń SA (PZU), a company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW). The beginning of PZU brand traditions is considered to be 1803, when the first insurance company in Poland was founded.
In Ukraine it is represented by insurance companies “PZU Ukraine” and “PZU Ukraine Life Insurance”.
As of November 30, 2024, 4 million 234.49 thousand non-EU citizens who left Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, had the status of temporary protection in the EU, which is 36.01 thousand, or 0.9%, more than a month earlier, Eurostat reports.
“The largest absolute increase in the number of beneficiaries was observed in Germany (+11,915; +1.0%), the Czech Republic (+5,820; +1.5%) and Poland (+4,045; +0.4%),” the agency said.
It is noted that the number of people under temporary protection in November decreased only in Italy (-1,270; -0.8%), France (-695; -1.2%) and Luxembourg (-15; -0.4%).
According to Eurostat, Germany remains the country with the largest number of refugees from Ukraine in the EU and the world by a growing margin – 1 million 152.62 thousand at the end of November, or 27.2% of the total number of beneficiaries in the EU.
The top three also includes Poland – 987.93 thousand, or 23.3%, and the Czech Republic – 385.19 thousand, or 9.1%.
Spain (224.29 thousand), Romania (177.61 thousand), and Italy (164.41 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 November 2024 was observed in the Czech Republic (35.3), Poland (27.0), Latvia and Estonia (25.5 each), while the corresponding figure at the EU level is 9.4.
It is also reported that as of November 30, 2024, Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98.3% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection. Adult women accounted for almost half (44.9%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU, children for almost a third (32.0%), while adult men accounted for less than a quarter (23.1%) of the total. A year earlier, the share of women was 46.3%, children 33.3% and adult men 20.4%.
More than 100 thousand people with temporary protection status at the end of November 2024 were also in Slovakia – 130.47 thousand, the Netherlands – 120.55 thousand and Ireland – 109.18 thousand.
Between 50 thousand and 100 thousand of them were in Belgium – 85.44 thousand, Austria – 84.60 thousand, Norway – 78.10 thousand, Finland – 68.78 thousand, Bulgaria – 67.54 thousand, Switzerland – 67.45 thousand, Portugal – 64.78 thousand and France – 59.13 thousand (data on children are mostly not included – Eurostat).
This is followed by Lithuania – 48.01 thousand, Latvia – 47.65 thousand, Sweden – 46.00 thousand, Denmark – 38.92 thousand, Hungary – 38.89 thousand, Greece – 32.37 thousand, Estonia – 35.12 thousand, Croatia – 25.81 thousand, Cyprus – 22.09 thousand, Iceland – 3.97 thousand, Luxembourg – 3.84 thousand, Malta – 2.20 thousand and Liechtenstein – 0.70 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 January 16, 2025, was estimated at 6.303 million, and 6.863 million worldwide, which is 49 thousand more than as of December 16.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data, there are 3.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), while approximately 160,000 people were displaced from the frontline areas in the east and south between May and October 2024 due to the intensification of hostilities.
As Deputy Minister of Economy Serhiy Sobolev noted in early March 2023, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP. At the same time, in its October inflation report, the National Bank again downgraded its forecast for the outflow from Ukraine in 2024 from 0.4 million to 0.5 million. At the same time, the outflow estimate for 2025 was lowered from 0.3 million to 0.2 million.
In the report, the National Bank confirmed its expectation that Ukrainians will start returning home in 2026, but lowered its net inflow forecast to 0.2 million from 0.4 million.
http://relocation.com.ua/status-tymchasovoho-zakhystu-v-krainakh/
