Ukraine has received $50m from the World Bank under the health care project “Transforming Health Care through Reform and Investing in Efficiency” (THRIVE), the Finance Ministry has said. It noted that the condition for receiving these funds was to raise the level of the capital rate of primary health care (payment for care of one patient who filed a declaration on the choice of a doctor who provides primary health care) to a minimum of 825 UAH, and according to the government decision of December 2024, such rate for 2025 is 844.4 UAH instead of 786.65 UAH in 2024.
THRIVE is one of the projects implemented using the financial instrument “Program for Results” (PforR), which provides for the achievement of indicators, upon verification of which Ukraine will attract funds determined by the relevant agreements, said the Ministry of Finance.
The purpose of the project is to assist the government in improving the Medical Guarantee Program (MGP) to create a reliable health care system. The Loan Agreement and Financing Agreement totaling $449 million were signed on December 10, 2024, of which $249 million was provided by Japan. Last year, Ukraine has already received $220 million, which is stipulated in the Loan Agreement (100% of the disbursed funds).
On Sunday, April 13, Ukraine is mostly without precipitation, only at night in the south-east of the country in some places a little wet snow, at night and in the morning in some places fog, reported Ukrhydrometcenter. Wind of variable directions, 3-8 m/s. At night, frosts in the air 0-5°; daytime temperature 10-15° of heat, in western regions up to 18°. In the Carpathians, no precipitation; temperatures at night 3-8° frost, daytime 6-11° warm.
In Kiev on April 13, no precipitation. Wind of variable directions, 3-8 m/s. At night, frosts in the air 0-2°; daytime temperature 13-15° warm.
According to the Central Geophysical Observatory im. Borys Sreznevsky, in Kiev on April 13, the highest daytime temperature was 25.6° in 1972, the lowest nighttime temperature was -4.7° frost in 1923.
Monday, April 14, without precipitation, only in the afternoon in the western regions in some places light rain, in some places thunderstorms. At night and in the morning in the southern part in some places fog.
Wind south, south-west, 7-12 m/s, in the Carpathians, most of the northern, Khmelnytsky and Vinnitsa regions gusts of 15-20 m/s in the afternoon.
Temperatures at night 1-6° of heat, in Ukraine, except western regions, on the surface of the soil frost 0-3°; in the daytime 13-18° of heat. In the Carpathians, no precipitation at night, light rain in places during the day; temperature at night 0-5° frost, daytime 8-13° warm. In Kiev on April 14, no precipitation. The wind is south, 7-12 m/s. The temperature at night is 2-4° of heat, during the day 15-17°.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has increased its forecast for Ukraine’s wheat exports by 0.5 million tons to 16.0 million tons, leaving corn exports unchanged at 22.0 million tons and wheat and corn production at 23.4 million tons and 26.8 million tons, respectively.
According to the April forecast, the global wheat market in the 2024-2025 marketing year is expected to decrease slightly in production, consumption, and trade volume compared to the previous month’s forecast, while ending stocks are expected to increase.
World wheat production is expected to decline by 0.3 million tons to 796.9 million tons due to lower production estimates in Saudi Arabia and the EU (-0.3 million tons to 121.0 million tons).
World wheat consumption is projected 1.4 million tons lower to 805.2 million tons, mainly due to lower food, seed, and industrial use in India and China.
World trade in MY 2024/2025 is projected 1.3 million tons lower to 206.8 million tons, mainly due to lower export forecasts for Russia (-1.0 million tons to 44.0 million tons), Australia (-0.5 million tons to 25.5 million tons), and the EU (-0.5 million tons to 26.5 million tons), only partially offset by higher exports for Canada (+0.5 million tons to 26.5 million tons) and Ukraine (+0.5 million tons to 16.0 million tons).
Exports in MY 2024/2025 are expected to be 7% lower than in the previous year.
Projected world ending stocks for MY 2024/2025 are increased by 0.6 million tons to 260.7 million tons, as increases in stocks in India, the Russian Federation, the US and the EU are partially offset by lower stocks in China. World stocks for MY 2024/2025 are now 3% below the previous year and the lowest since MY 2015/2016.
The updated forecasts for the global corn market in MY 2024/2025 assume higher production, consumption, trade volumes and a corresponding reduction in ending stocks.
The forecast for world corn production increased by 0.9 million tons to 1,215.1 million tons. Increases in the EU (+1.3 million tons to 59.3 million tons due to increased harvests in Poland, Croatia, France and Germany, partially offset by decreases in Romania and Bulgaria), Tanzania and Honduras were partially offset by decreases in Moldova, Cambodia and Kenya.
The world export forecast rises by 2.3 million tons to 188.7 million tons. Major changes in world trade for MY 2024/2025 include an increase in projected corn exports for the United States (+2.5 million tons to 64.8 million tons) and a decrease for Pakistan.
Corn ending stocks declined by 1.3 million tons to 287.7 million tons, reflecting lower stocks in the U.S. and higher stocks in South Korea, Pakistan.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he may allow individual exceptions to the 10% tariff for most trading partners, although he considers the rate the minimum for countries seeking to negotiate with Washington, Bloomberg reported Saturday.
“There may be some exceptions for obvious reasons, but I would say 10% is the minimum,” Trump told reporters Friday aboard Air Force One en route to Florida. He did not specify what the reasons were, nor did he announce any new fare changes.
The announcement came after fare increases for dozens of countries announced in the week. Some were later postponed due to negative market reactions. China was hit with duties of 145%, while a prime rate of 10% has so far been applied to most nations.
“Despite this, the average duty rate in the U.S. could reach historic highs. Beijing, in response to Washington’s actions, raised tariffs on US goods to 125%. China said it will not respond to further steps, but is preparing other measures,” the report said.
Trump said at the same time that “the market is stable” and the dollar will remain “the currency of choice”. He also expressed confidence that the trade standoff with China could end positively.
Ukraine’s Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Svitlana Hrynchuk, Spanish Ambassador to Ukraine Ricardo Lopez-Aranda Jagu and Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Lytvynenko took part in the opening of a photovoltaic power plant in the Chornobyl exclusion zone, the Public Communications and Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Environment reported on Saturday.
“The implementation of the project worth more than UAH 30 million started in 2019 and was stopped with the beginning of the full-scale invasion. But in the fall of 2024, this process reached the finish line. Today, the solar plant is fully ready for commissioning and is connected to the integrated power system of Ukraine. It consists of 2244 monocrystalline solar modules on an area of 13 thousand square meters,” said Hrynchuk.
According to her, the plant is a success that continues the ambitious plan to develop renewable energy in the exclusion zone.
“Special thanks to the Government of Spain for its support in the implementation of this project. Spain has a plan to switch to 70% green energy in the economy by 2030 and supports us on the path to energy efficiency. This country is a key financial partner in the creation of a new solar station. The construction was funded by the Government of Spain for greenhouse gas emission quotas under the Kyoto Protocol. This is an extremely important and very timely investment in our green energy sector,” the Minister said.
Hrynchuk also got acquainted with the results of the implementation of another area of our cooperation with partners – an automated system for monitoring the non-proliferation of radioactive contamination. It was implemented with the support of the European Union to modernize stationary radiometers for monitoring road transport and cargo at the control points that were destroyed during the occupation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.
The Minister inspected the consequences of the Russian attack on the NSC Arch, where work is underway to assess damage, find effective solutions and plan to restore the functionality of the confidentiality.
Ukrainian fintech company Fintech Farm has entered the Indian market with Roarbank, a neobank that will operate on the basis of the Indian bank Unity Small Finance Bank.
“We started attracting our first customers in a closed beta test. Over 100,000 users have registered in a few days,” the company said in a press release on LinkedIn.
It is noted that despite small bugs, “everything looks great.”
“After the launch of our MVP, we have ambitious plans to create even more amazing products and services for our Indian customers,” Fintech Farm added.
Fintech Farm is a fintech company specializing in creating neobanks in emerging markets. It was founded in 2021 by Dmytro Dubilet (former PrivatBank top manager and co-founder of monobank), Mykola Beskrovnyi (former head of M&A in the fintech sector at KPMG’s London office), and Oleksandr Vityaz (former head of PrivatBank’s e-Business Center).
According to Fintech Farm’s website, it has now created three more neobanks in other countries: Leobank in Azerbaijan, Liobank in Vietnam, and Simbank in Kyrgyzstan.
