The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided almost EUR2.4 billion to Ukraine last year, up from EUR2.1 billion in 2023, a record high in the history of cooperation with the country, the bank said in a press release on Thursday.
“The Bank is the largest institutional investor in Ukraine, which has significantly increased its investments since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. The total amount of financing provided by the EBRD in Ukraine during the war is almost EUR 6.2 billion,” the statement said.
It is noted that the priority areas of the EBRD’s activities in Ukraine remain support for energy security, vital infrastructure, food security, as well as trade and the private sector. The press service clarifies that trade finance is taken into account in the total volume along with investments.
The EBRD plans to maintain its investments in Ukraine at around EUR 1.5 billion per year, with a potential increase during the recovery phase, following an agreement reached in 2023 to increase the bank’s capital by EUR 4 billion to EUR 34 billion.
“Our shareholders have shown tremendous confidence in us by approving a significant capital increase to support our operations in Ukraine and other war-affected countries. Most of all, I would like to see 2025 become a year of recovery. This is where the EBRD is able to make the most of itself – we use our financial expertise to help rebuild better than before,” EBRD President Audrey Renaud-Basso said.
It is specified that the total amount of financing provided by the EBRD in 2024 reached EUR 16.6 billion, which is 26% more than the previous record of EUR 13.1 billion in 2023.
The EBRD was founded in 1991. According to the latest data, the financial institution has invested more than EUR 21.29 billion in Ukraine since then. The current portfolio consists of 614 projects worth EUR5.58 billion.
Knauf Gypsum Rock LLC has won the auction for a 20-year special permit for gypsum mining at the Skoviatynske deposit in Ternopil region, according to the results of the bidding on Prozorro.Sale.
Two companies participated in the auction held on Thursday, January 16, by the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine, with a starting price of UAH 119 million 608 thousand 594.06 excluding VAT. The winner, Knauf Gypsum Skala LLC, offered UAH 121.05 million excluding VAT for the license, while the second bidder, Kamianets-Podilskyi Gipsovik JSC, offered UAH 120.55 million.
The 115-hectare Skoviatynske deposit is located 1-2 km from the village of Shyshkivtsi in Chortkiv (formerly Borshchiv) district and is the largest in Ternopil region with gypsum reserves of 43.9 million tons. Knauf has been developing the Shyshkovets deposit adjacent to Skoviatynske since 2006. As of 2021, the Shyshkovetsky deposit covered an area of 41 hectares and had reserves of over 11.4 million tons of gypsum.
Knauf is a leading global manufacturer of gypsum and building materials.
Currently, Knauf has an operating plant in Kyiv, which produces about 25 million square meters of gypsum board and 200 thousand tons of dry mixes. Previously, Knauf also owned a plant in Soledar (Donetsk region), which was destroyed by the occupiers. The company took its employees out and employed them at the Kyiv plant, which employs 425 people in total.
As reported, the German company Knauf will build a plant for the production of drywall and dry building mixtures in Borshchiv (Ternopil region), with investments in the project amounting to EUR 150 million, with a design capacity of 30 million square meters of drywall and 320 thousand tons of dry mixtures.
According to Opendatabot, at the end of 2023, the Knauf plant in Kyiv (Knauf Gypsum Kyiv LLC) increased its net income by 65% to UAH 3.53 billion, and net profit by 2.6 times to UAH 1 billion.
In 2024, the enterprises of Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, paid UAH 2.25 billion in taxes and fees to the budgets of all levels and, according to the State Tax Service, were included in the list of taxpayers with a high level of voluntary compliance with tax legislation – the White Business Club.
According to the agricultural holding’s press service on its Facebook page, more than UAH 1.47 billion of this amount was paid to local budgets of territorial communities in Poltava, Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Kharkiv regions of Ukraine. The state budget received over UAH 776 million.
“During the full-scale war, Astarta has transferred UAH 6.1 billion to the budgets of all levels and we will continue to do so. Conscientious payment of taxes in wartime is not just a duty, it is also a demonstration of self-recharge and unity of Ukrainian business, which helps to accelerate Ukraine’s victory and its economic recovery afterwards,” said Astarta’s founder and CEO Victor Ivanchyk.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2023, the agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR 61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR 145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR 618.93 million.
Revenue from the privatization of state property in 2024 increased 3.1 times (by UAH 6.75 billion) compared to 2023, to UAH 9.9 billion, according to the website of the State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine. According to the website, in 2015, privatization revenues amounted to UAH 0.2 billion, in 2016 – UAH 0.2 billion, in 2017 – UAH 3.4 billion, in 2018 – UAH 0.3 billion, in 2019 – UAH 0.5 billion, in 2020 – UAH 2.2 billion, in 2021 – UAH 5.1 billion, in 2022 – UAH 1.7 billion, in 2023 – UAH 3.15 billion.
“In 2024, the SPFU managed to set a new record for privatization proceeds,” the agency stated.
In total, last year the Ukrainian budget received UAH 11.1 billion from privatization, in addition to UAH 9.9 billion in revenues, another UAH 1.2 billion was VAT.
At the same time, the sale of small-scale privatization objects brought in almost UAH 3.5 billion, with the most expensive lot being the Kyiv Kozatsky Hotel (UAH 0.4 billion), and two large-scale privatization assets – the capital’s Hotel Ukraine and the United Mining and Chemical Company – provided UAH 6.45 billion in budget revenues.
In 2024, the SPF also began to auction state assets with no book value or zero book value at a starting price of UAH 1. These auctions were highly competitive.
“We offer the market a wide range of objects: from large facilities to single property complexes for business development and real estate. Thanks to this, everyone can find options for investment. Over the past decade, privatization has become more transparent and its results have improved significantly,” said Ivanna Smachylo, acting head of the SPF.
Israel has sent several hundred portable EcoFlow charging stations to Ukraine to help Ukrainians get through the winter and cope with electricity problems, the press service of the Israeli Embassy in Ukraine reported on Thursday.
“The Israeli Embassy in Kyiv and MASHAV (the Center for International Cooperation of the Israeli Foreign Ministry) will hand over portable stations to families in need in different regions of Ukraine,” the embassy’s press service said in a statement. The State of Israel recognized Ukraine’s independence on December 25, 1991. On December 26, 1991, diplomatic relations between Ukraine and the State of Israel were established. In 1993, the Embassy of the State of Israel was opened in Kyiv. Since 2021, Michael Brodsky has been the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel to Ukraine.
In 2024, Ukraine processed 31.963 thousand tons of grapes into wine materials, which is 36.5% less than in 2023, the State Statistics Service reported. According to these data, last year wine producers processed 9.771 thousand tons of grapes that they grew themselves and 22.192 thousand tons of purchased grapes, which amounted to 30.6% and 69.4%, respectively.
The most popular varieties among processors in the analyzed period were Aligote, which was processed 5220.3 tons (16.3% of the total volume of processed raw materials), Chardonnay – 4015.9 tons (12.6%), Cabernet Sauvignon – 2742 tons (8, 6%), Rkatsiteli – 2179.6 tons (6.8%), Muscat – 1973.5 tons (6.2%), Riesling – 1792.6 tons (5.6%), Saperavi – 1595.4 tons (5%), Pinot – 1415.1 tons (4.4%), Sauvignon and Odesa Black – 1080 tons (3.4%), and others.
According to the published data, grape processing in the 2024 season decreased compared to 2023 in the varietal range as follows: “Aligote – by 30%, Chardonnay – by 10.5%, Cabernet Sauvignon – by 49.2%, Rkatsiteli – 35.6%, Muscat – 61.2%, Riesling – 17%, Saperavi – 38.8%, Pinot – 50.9%, Sauvignon and Odesa Black – 55.6% and 48%, respectively.
As a result, in the 2024 season, the production of wine materials decreased by 38.1%, to 2.391 million dal of wine materials, compared to 3.861 million dal in 2023.
At the same time, 1.618 million dal of wine materials were used for the production of table wines, or 67.7%, champagne and sparkling wines – 608.8 thousand dal (25.5%), cognacs – 91.1 thousand dal (3.8%).
The State Statistics Service clarified that the data published excludes the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, part of the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and part of the territories where military operations are underway.
