Dragon Capital, a Kyiv-based investment company that invested about $700 million in Ukraine between 2015 and 2021, excluding reinvestments of several hundred million more, plans to invest $100 million in 2025 due to improved macroeconomic predictability and economic growth, anInterfax-Ukraine correspondent reports.
“In the middle of last year, we started considering new investments. This year, we plan to make about $100 million in new investments,” owner and CEO Tomas Fiala said at a conference titled ‘Logistics as a Driver of Economic Growth’ organized by the We Build Ukraine think tank in Kyiv on Tuesday.
The businessman added that it will be mainly financed by his own money and co-investors’ equity, while a smaller part, “maybe up to a quarter,” will be borrowed.
He clarified that out of the $700 million of investments in 2015-2021, the share of debt financing was about a third, up to $250 million, of which 80% has already been repaid, but there was also a significant portion of private Western investors, either European or American.
“We really believe that 2025 is the first year during the war when we have much better macroeconomic predictability. We (Ukraine – IF-U) have fully received committees to finance our budget deficit for the whole of 2025 and almost the whole of 2026,” Fiala explained the readiness to resume investments.
He reminded that currently, taking into account the $50 billion financing of Ukraine under the ERA instrument from frozen Russian assets, the total confirmed financing of the country is $56 billion, against the need to finance the budget deficit in 2025 of $40 billion.
“That’s if there is no truce, but if it happens, we will need almost $10 billion less money,” said the owner of Dragon Capital.
He added that, given this situation, a fairly stable exchange rate and economic growth can already be predicted in 2025: by 3% if the war continues, and by 5-7% if it ends.
“We are not the only ones paying attention to the ceasefire negotiations. You can look at the following “barometer” – the prices of Ukrainian Eurobonds traded in London. These are dozens of foreign investors who are assessing Ukraine’s risks. The prices of these bonds have been rising for the last 2 years, but this growth has accelerated since October last year,” Fiala said.
According to him, new investors are assessing the Ukrainian risk through sovereign Eurobonds, focusing on yields of 13-14% per annum – this is the rate at which they are willing to buy the Ukrainian government’s debt.
Fiala added that investors are willing to buy corporate bonds of reliable Ukrainian companies such as MHP and Kernel with a yield of about 10%, and sometimes even 9%.
Dragon Capital is one of the largest investment and financial services groups in Ukraine, providing a full range of investment banking and brokerage services, private equity, and asset management to institutional, corporate, and private clients. The company was founded in 2000 in Kyiv.
Over the next 10 years, Ukrtransgaz plans to invest UAH 31.040 billion in the development of underground gas storage facilities (UGS) in accordance with the gas storage development plan for 2025-2034 approved by the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NEURC).
“The result of the implementation of the Gas Storage Development Plan for 2025-2034 should be to ensure reliable and trouble-free operation of gas storage facilities,” the regulator said in its justification for the relevant resolution adopted at a meeting on Tuesday.
Based on this year’s results, Ukrtransgaz plans to spend UAH 1,091.468 million of its own funds on the development of the UGS facilities. In particular, the company plans to allocate UAH 474.320 million for the operation of gas storage facilities, UAH 266.729 million for the modernization and purchase of vehicles, special machines and mechanisms, UAH 207.506 million for UGS facilities, and UAH 93.679 million for the implementation and development of information technologies.
As reported, in 2023, Ukrtransgaz earned almost UAH 7 billion in net profit, compared to UAH 3.2 billion in 2022.
Ukrtransgaz is a part of Naftogaz Group. It provides for the operation of Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities, as well as modernization and construction of main gas pipelines and facilities on them. It owns 12 underground gas storage facilities located throughout Ukraine with a total capacity of 31 billion cubic meters.
Ukraine’s imports of passenger cars, including cargo-passenger van cars and racing cars (UKT VED code 8703), in January-February 2025 in monetary terms decreased by 7.8% year-on-year to $719.92 million.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) of Ukraine, in February imports of passenger cars to Ukraine exceeded the February-2024 figure by 3% to $385.94 million, while in January there was a 17.8% drop compared to January-2023.
The top three largest suppliers of cars to Ukraine in January-February this year were Germany, the U.S. and Japan, while in the previous year it was the U.S., China and Germany.
In particular, the supply of cars from Germany increased by almost 40% – up to $152.15 million, and their share in the structure of car imports amounted to 21.13% against 13.94% a year earlier.
Cars worth $122.13 million (15% less) were imported from the USA to Ukraine. Japan, which last year was not among the top three countries with the largest car imports, this year imported $79 mln worth of cars in two months.
It is noteworthy that China, whose imports a year ago amounted to $114.88 mln (second place after the USA), has not yet entered the top three.
Overall, imports of passenger cars from other countries totaled $366.63 million during the period compared to $413.87 million in January-February last year.
At the same time, in January-February this year Ukraine exported such vehicles for only $1.9 million, in particular to the UAE (67% of exports), Czech Republic and Moldova, while a year earlier the country sold them to foreign markets for $3.8 million, mainly to Canada (47.7%), USA (26.8%) and Moldova.
According to the STS, in the total structure of imports of goods to Ukraine in January-February the share of passenger cars amounted to 6.37%, in the structure of exports – 0.03%.
As reported, in 2024 in Ukraine imported passenger cars for $4.385 billion – 8% more than a year earlier, exported $10.1 million (2.7 times less).
In January-February 2025, pharmacy sales in Ukraine increased by 11.44% in monetary terms compared to the same period in 2024, to UAH 36.03 billion, while in physical terms they decreased by 5.6%, to more than 190.6 million packages.
According to Business Credit, according to its research, the weighted average price of pharmacy basket goods inJanuary-February amounted to UAH 189.07, which is 18.3% more than in the same period in 2024.
At the same time, pharmacy sales of medicines in January-February 2025 amounted to UAH 28.292 billion, which is 11.98% more than a year earlier, but in physical terms, pharmacy sales of medicines during this period decreased by 5.52% to 134.978 million packs.
The weighted average retail price of medicines amounted to UAH 209.61 per unit in the first two months of the year, which is 18.53% higher than a year earlier.
Pharmacy sales of dietary supplements in January-February increased by 13.41% in monetary terms to UAH 4.052 billion, while in physical terms they decreased by almost 3.17% to 17.784 million packs. The weighted average price in this segment in two months of 2025 increased by 17.13% compared to 2023, to UAH 227.87 per unit.
At the same time, according to Business Credit, a decrease in sales in physical terms was recorded in all segments of the pharmacy basket.
As reported, pharmacy sales in Ukraine in 2024 increased by 10.67% in monetary terms compared to 2023 – to UAH 192.843 billion, while in physical terms they decreased by 5% – to more than 1.157 billion packs. The weighted average price of pharmacy basket products in 2024 amounted to UAH 166.59, which is 16.53% more than in 2023.
At the same time, pharmacy sales of medicines in 2024 amounted to UAH 151 billion, which is 10.83% more than a year earlier, but in physical terms, pharmacy sales of medicines decreased by 5.64% to 810.155 million packs. The weighted average retail price of medicines in 2024 amounted to UAH 186.39 per unit, which is 17.45% more than in 2023.
Pharmacy sales of dietary supplements in 2024 increased by 11.06% in monetary terms to UAH 19.992 billion, while in physical terms they decreased by almost 3.06% to 99.012 million packs. The weighted average price in this segment in 2024 increased by 14.56% compared to 2023 to UAH 201.92 per unit.
In Ukraine, in February 2025, farms of all categories produced 439 thousand tons of raw milk, which is 14 thousand tons less (-3%) compared to January 2025 and 24 thousand tons less (-5%) compared to February 2024, according to the Association of Milk Producers (AMP).
According to the report, in January-February 2025, the volume of milk yield in Ukraine amounted to 891 thousand tons, which is 32 thousand tons (-4%) less than in the previous year.
At the same time, the share of enterprises in the production of raw milk in February 2025 amounted to 55%, and households – 45%. Enterprises produced 239 thousand tons of raw milk in February 2025, which is 20 thousand tons less (-8%) compared to January 2025 and 4 thousand tons more (+2%) compared to February 2024.
In January-February 2025, dairy farms produced 499 thousand tons of raw milk, which is 21 thousand tons (+4%) more than in the previous year.
In private households, milk yield in February 2025 amounted to 200 thousand tons, which is 6 thousand tons more (+3%) than in January 2025 and 28 thousand tons less (-12%) than in February 2024. In January-February 2025, the private sector produced 393 thousand tons of raw milk, which is 53 thousand tons (-12%) less than in the previous year.
AVM analyst Giorgi Kukhaleishvili notes that in 2025, MTFs may refrain from increasing milk production in the face of declining demand for dairy products in the domestic market and falling purchase prices. Since dairy processing companies are not able to buy milk at adequate market prices, a further increase in milk yield could lead to a greater price collapse.
At the same time, the potential threat of the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, which has been reported in Hungary and Slovakia, poses a challenge to Ukraine’s dairy industry. An increase in culling of infected livestock could lead to a reduction in milk yield.
“There are prospects for some growth in demand for milk in Ukraine. Dairy processing companies are striving to promote the recovery of demand for dairy products from the population through discounts and promotional offers in retail chains. With the beginning of spring, the ice cream season begins, and the export of canned milk from Ukraine is also growing, which stimulates the receipt of additional volumes of raw milk for processing,” the industry association summarized.
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