Ukrainian agricultural producers in 2022 attracted 43.65 thousand loans totaling 95.47 billion UAH under the program “Affordable credits 5-7-9”, according to the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on Monday.
It says that from the middle of March to May 31, 2022 a special program of concessional lending for the sowing season, under which farmers could borrow up to 60 million hryvnia at 0% per annum, and the state guaranteed 80% of funding. During the period of its operation the agrarian entrepreneurs received 24,72 billion UAH of credits. From June 1, 2022, the usual program “5-7-9” was applied for loans to agricultural sector.
The leaders in terms of credit amounts during this period were the Kiev region – 15,5 billion UAH, Vinnitsa region – 10,2 billion UAH, Kirovograd region – 8,6 billion UAH, Dnepropetrovsk region – 6,8 billion UAH and Odessa region – 6 billion UAH.
PrivatBank, Raiffeisen Bank, Ukrgasbank, Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, Credit Agricole and PUMB granted the most loans to agrarians.
The agency also recalled that the Ukrainian government has decided to provide financial support to micro, small and medium enterprises to restore partially or completely destroyed as a result of military operations of production facilities. Agribusinesses can also count on such support.
Besides, banks credit business for energy supply: purchase and installation of equipment ensuring uninterrupted work of business energy systems. Lending for such investments is made at an interest rate of 0% per annum.
On January 04, the Kyiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture hosted the official presentation of awards of the National Guard of Ukraine to the team and partners of the Charitable Foundation “Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine” for the systematic assistance they have provided and are providing to our defenders.
In the framework of cooperation with the National Guard, the Charitable Foundation “Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine” and its partners provided material and technical equipment, medical supplies and food to support our soldiers who are on the defensive positions.
“The defenders of the National Guard of Ukraine are sincerely grateful to the Charitable Foundation “Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine” and its President Artem Goncharenko for the contribution they make to the logistical support of our soldiers in these difficult times. For example, the tents that were transferred to the positions of the forces, in such difficult weather conditions, were very useful to our defenders. And this is just one of the examples of practical assistance that has been going on for months. The unity of the armed forces and civil society today is the key to our victory. On this day, I am pleased to acknowledge the people who help and will help the National Guard to achieve it,” said Major Serhii Petkov, legal adviser of the 3101 unit of the National Guard, during the awarding ceremony.
The National Guard of Ukraine awarded team members and partners of the Charitable Foundation “Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine”:
Goncharenko Natalia – Head of the National Institute of Regional Development
Butkaliuk Viacheslav – journalist
Voloshkina Olena – Professor, Doctor of Science
Hamotskyi Roman – architect, vice president of the International Association of Transfer and Technology
Zavalnyuk Vitaliy – representative of the international creative center I-Dolina
Kreknina Olena – Deputy Marketing Director of AXOR Industry
Kulakov Igor – Chairman of the NGO “New Lviv”, Chairman of the Board of the Agency for Reconstruction of Ukraine
Stanko Andriy – representative of the Association of Education and Science of Ukraine
Tsytsylina Iryna – Head of the NGO “Culture and Heritage of Ukraine”
Shcherbak Andriy, volunteer, founder of TM “Zeleno”
Volunteers of the Foundation:
Dzhuryn Maria
Zavalnyuk Roman
Bilash Hanna
Boldak Roman
Motrenko Svitlana
Savchenko Diana
Slisarenko Ilya
Andriy Stanko
“Supporting our defenders is one of the priorities of the Foundation for Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine and its partners. And I am very pleased that our efforts are appreciated by the National Guard. In fact, we are grateful to our soldiers for bravely defending our country. I want to assure that the Foundation will continue to support our defenders and do small things and large humanitarian projects aimed at our soonest victory. I also want to thank my entire team for their hard daily work, which contributes to this cause,” said Artem Honcharenko, President of the Charitable Foundation “Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine” during the award ceremony.
Recall that the charitable foundation “Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine” continues to raise funds for 52 mobile hospitals for the military at the forefront. The first mobile hospital has already been delivered to the Armed Forces. Only one such hospital can save up to 100 lives of our defenders every day.
As you know, a mobile hospital is a full-fledged hospital on wheels, equipped with modern medical equipment. The medical center allows to provide urgent surgical intervention directly near active combat operations. Two medical teams can work simultaneously in the mobile hospital. This project is implemented by the Charitable Foundation “Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine” together with the doctors of the military hospital who will go to the front line to save lives.
Oil prices rise on Monday after a significant decline in the past week.
The price of March futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange by 7:10 qoq on Monday is $79.45 per barrel, which is $0.88 (1.12%) higher than the closing price of the previous session. As a result of trading on Friday, these contracts fell by $0.12 (0.2%) to $78.57 per barrel.
The price of futures for WTI oil for February in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) increased by this time by $0.89 (1.21%), to $74.66 per barrel. By the close of previous trading, the cost of these contracts increased by $0.1 (0.1%) to $73.77 per barrel.
As a result of the past week, Brent fell by 8.5%, WTI – by 8.1%.
Traders are evaluating the prospects for oil demand in China, where the incidence of COVID-19 has increased since the lifting of quarantine restrictions. In addition, fears of a downturn in the global economy remain in the context of the ongoing tightening of monetary policy by the world’s largest central banks.
Pressure on the oil market last week was exerted by the strengthening of the US dollar, lower natural gas prices, as well as the risks of a recession in the world, said Troy Vincent, chief analyst at DTN.
“Warm weather and falling gas prices dampen expectations that consumers will switch from gas to oil this winter,” Market Watch quoted Vincent as saying. “The increase in economic activity in China following the lifting of anti-COVID restrictions is the main factor that could push oil demand to growth. However, there remains serious uncertainty about the timing of the return of the PRC economy to normal activity.”
Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that he will meet Russian ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova in Turkey in a few days to discuss the return of prisoners to Ukraine.
Separately, Lubinets will raise the issue of the return of civilian hostages, whom the aggressor has detained en masse on temporarily occupied territory and is not releasing.
“The plans are ambitious. After all, we do not know how the Russian side will behave. However, we are getting positive signals in advance that they are ready to consider this issue. I note that civilians, according to the Geneva Conventions, cannot be exchanged. Civilians must be released!”, – stressed the ombudsman.
Stockholm is unwilling or unable to fulfill Turkey’s requirements, which it put forward as a condition for approving Sweden’s bid to join NATO, Scandinavian Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said.
“Turkey confirms that we have fulfilled the conditions we agreed to. But the Turks also want things that we cannot or do not want to give them,” the Swedish prime minister was quoted as saying by Western media on Sunday.
At the same time, Christersson expressed confidence that Turkey would agree to Sweden’s membership in the alliance.
The protocols for Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Council were signed by NATO countries on July 5, 2022. These states will join NATO as soon as all members of the alliance ratify the accession protocols. Of the 30 NATO nations, Sweden and Finland’s membership in the alliance has not been ratified by Turkey and Hungary.
Turkey has blocked the accession process, demanding that the Nordic countries declare Kurdish organizations terrorist and extradite those accused of terrorism, as well as lift the ban on arms supplies to Ankara.
Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen suggested in late December that his country would become a member of the alliance by the Vilnius NATO summit of July 11-12, 2023.
The U.S. dollar fell against the euro, yen and pound sterling on Monday as fresh signs of a slowdown in U.S. inflation boosted traders’ hopes that the Federal Reserve will be able to halt the cycle of interest rate hikes earlier than expected.
The ICE-calculated index, which shows the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and Swedish krona), loses 0.29% during trading, the broader WSJ Dollar Index – 0.39%.
As of 7:55 a.m. Monday, the EUR/USD pair is trading at $1.0684, compared to $1.0644 at the close of the previous session.
The value of the American currency against the yen fell to 131.83 yen compared to 132.11 yen in the previous trade.
The pound to dollar rose to $1.2152 against $1.2093 on Friday.
Stats on the US labor market, released last Friday, showed the smallest increase in the number of jobs in the US economy in December since December 2020 – by 223 thousand. Unemployment in the States decreased to 3.5% from 3.6% in November.
At the same time, the average hourly wages in the private sector in December increased by 0.3% compared to the previous month and by 4.6% in annual terms. The growth rate slowed from 0.4% and 4.8% respectively in November and was weaker than analysts’ expectations (0.4% and 5%).
A member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, Lisa Cook, however, is not too optimistic about the prospects for a slowdown in inflation, according to Market Watch.
“Despite a number of encouraging signals we’ve seen recently, inflation remains excessively high, and that’s a serious concern,” she said during a speech last Friday at the American Economic Association event in New Orleans.
At the same event, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Rafael Bostic, said that he sees the need to raise the Fed rate to 5.25%.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” Bostick said.
In December, the American Central Bank increased the interest rate by 50 basis points to 4.25-4.5%
