Associations of meat and dairy products processors have asked the government to develop and implement a national program for the development and support of the dairy and meat industry to prevent further deepening of the crisis in their activities, Head of the Ukrainian Union of Dairy Enterprises Vadym Chaharovsky said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
“The level of state support for animal husbandry, and we, I emphasize, we all cooperate with our partners-livestock breeders, at the level of UAH 1.2 billion does not meet the development needs of both dairy cattle breeding and the dairy industry,” he said.
According to the head of the union, the crisis in the industry is characterized by a 5.6% decrease in milk production in the first half of 2021 compared to the first half of 2020, the number of cows fell by 5.8%, to 1.67 million heads, a decrease in the amount received for processing milk was 12%. He said that the production of butter, cheese products, skimmed milk powder and casein decreased the most. The downward trend was aggravated by the growth of imports of dairy products over the specified period from $140 million to $165 million in money terms.
The head of the expert and analytical service of the union Leonid Tulush noted the need to develop program documents to support the dairy processing industry, since its share of the food industry of Ukraine decreased from 17% in 2010 to less than 10% in 2020. He said that the theses given in the agrarian block of the current National Economic Strategy until 2030 are correct, but the document does not contain a specific strategy for the development of the dairy industry.
“It should be taken into account that over time, milk from households will not be present at all in milk processing. Indeed, from 2024 new standards are being introduced, when processing will finally abandon milk from households due to its non-compliance with standards, which, by the way, will be tightened. We need a program document on how to survive in such conditions,” Tulush said.
The net profit of Universal Bank (Kyiv) in January-June 2021 amounted to UAH 1.65 billion, which is 5.7 times more than in the same period of 2020 (UAH 288.614 million).
According to the quarterly reports published on the bank’s website, its net profit for the second quarter of 2021 amounted to UAH 782.255 million, which is 6.3 times more than in the corresponding period last year (UAH 123.96 million).
The bank’s net interest income for the six months increased by 2.2 times compared to the same period in 2020, to UAH 2.2 billion, and net commission income – by 1.5 times, to UAH 1.25 billion.
The bank’s assets in January-June increased by 23.2%, to UAH 41.859 billion, including loans and customer debt – by 1.3 times, to UAH 22.19 billion, and cash and cash equivalents – by 8%, to UAH 4.49 billion.
Universal Bank’s liabilities for the first half of the year increased by 20%, to UAH 37.5 billion, including customer funds – by 18.8%, to UAH 32.526 billion.
The bank’s equity capital in January-June grew by 1.6 times, to UAH 4.3 billion, while the charter capital remained at the level of UAH 4.309 billion.
Universal Bank is part of TAS Group of businessman Sergiy Tigipko, which was founded in 1998 and has assets in financial and industrial sectors, agriculture, real estate, pharmaceuticals and venture projects. In addition to Universal Bank, the financial sector of the group includes TAScombank, two insurance companies, and a number of other organizations.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of June 1, 2021, Universal Bank ranked 11th in terms of total assets (UAH 42.96 billion) among 73 banks operating in the country.
The revenues of the state budget of Ukraine in July 2021 amounted to UAH 92.58 billion, which is 6.9% more than the planned figure and 34% less than in July 2020, according to the data of the State Treasury Service.
According to the data released by the service, the general fund of the state budget in July was replenished with UAH 75.57 billion, which is 2.2% more than the plan and 30.4% lower than the figure for July 2020.
As for the indicators of budget revenues for January-July, in 2021 they were exceeded by 7% of the plan and were 16.3% higher than last year’s level for the specified period.
In general, over the seven months of this year, the state budget received UAH 684.5 billion, including almost UAH 581.5 billion in the general fund, which is 4.6% more than the plan and 14.3% more than in January-July 2020.
The Treasury said customs in July this year brought UAH 33 billion, which is 0.5% more than the expected figure and 29.3% more than in the same month in 2020. In January-July of this year, customs revenues amounted to UAH 207 billion, which is 4.1% more than the indicative of the Ministry of Finance.
Tax revenues in July brought to the budget UAH 39.5 billion, this amount is 4.2% more than the planned level and by 33.4% – than last year.
In January-July 2021, tax revenues brought almost UAH 330.5 billion to the budget and were 6% more than the expected figure and by 10.4% than in January-July 2020.
According to the State Treasury, VAT refunds last month decreased slightly to UAH 11.15 billion compared to UAH 11.99 billion in June and UAH 12.9 billion in May.
Ukrainian Alla Cherkasova at the Tokyo Olympics won the bronze medal competition in freestyle wrestling (up to 68 kg), having defeated Japanese woman, Rio Olympic champion Sara Dosho and took the third place in the standings.
The fight between the athletes began at 20:55 local time. The Ukrainian won a clear victory, having won the sixth bronze medal for the Ukrainian team at the Tokyo Olympics.
Earlier it became known that Ukrainian Greco-Roman wrestlers Zhan Beleniuk and Parviz Nasibov defeated their rivals in the semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics and advanced to the final of the competition, securing a minimum of silver.
In addition, Ukrainian athlete Iryna Koliadenko, who lost in the semifinals, losing to Kyrgyz athlete Aisuluu Tynybekova, will also fight for a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling (weight up to 62 kg).
The Olympic Games in Tokyo are held from July 23 to August 8. Ukraine has already won one silver and six bronze medals.
The loan portfolio of Ukrainian banks in June 2021 grew by 1%, to UAH 1.091 trillion, while the volume of non-performing loans (NPL) decreased by 0.7%, to UAH 405.522 billion, according to reports on the website National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to the report, the share of non-performing loans in the banking system in June fell to 37.18% from 37.85% in May.
The National Bank indicated that over the month the portfolio of loans in the corporate sector decreased by 0.7%, to UAH 809.363 billion, while the portfolio of loans to individuals increased by 2.1%, to UAH 229.139 billion.
At the same time, the volume of interbank loans increased by 1.4%, to UAH 40.93 billion, and the volume of loans issued to state and local authorities increased by 3.7%, to UAH 11.212 billion.
According to the National Bank, in June, the share of NPL in the portfolio of loans provided to the corporate sector decreased by 0.5 percentage points (to 43.66%), loans to the population – by 1 percentage point (to 22.4%), interbank loans – by 0.5 percentage points (to 1.92%), and loans to state authorities remained at the level of 0%.
The central bank’s report indicates that the loan portfolio of state-owned banks (excluding PrivatBank) in June 2021 increased by 0.2%, to UAH 292.798 billion (the NPL volume in it decreased by 0.5%, to UAH 118.09 billion), while the loan portfolio of PrivatBank grew by 0.4%, to UAH 248.7 million (NPL decreased by 0.2%, to UAH 177.4 billion).
In addition, over the month, the loan portfolio of banks with foreign capital increased by 1.5% (to UAH 361.09 billion), with private – by 2.6% (to UAH 188.06 billion), while the volume of NPL in them decreased accordingly by 0.8% (to UAH 87.55 billion) and by 1.2% (to UAH 22.509 billion).
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will provide Ukraine with more than $2.7 billion “free of charge and without additional conditions,” according to the President’s Office of Ukraine website on Tuesday. The relevant decision was made by the IMF Board of Governors at the suggestion of IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to help restore the world economy affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In total, special drawing rights (SDR) in the amount of $650 billion will be allocated between the countries.
The IMF said in the official statement that this is the largest allocation of SDRs in the history of the fund. “The SDR allocation will benefit all members, address the long-term global need for reserves, build confidence, and foster the resilience and stability of the global economy. It will particularly help our most vulnerable countries struggling to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 crisis,” Georgieva said.
Ukraine is expected to receive the tranche on August 23.
According to a statement on the presidential website, the decision was made after a telephone conversation between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Georgieva last week.
“This will be a good gift for our country on the 30th anniversary of independence. These funds will help overcome the consequences of coronavirus crisis and stimulate our economy. I am grateful to the IMF and personally Kristalina Georgieva for this decision,” the President of Ukraine said.
He also said that cooperation with the IMF is very important for Ukraine, so it continues to implement reforms and carry out structural beacons to receive a new tranche under the current stand-by arrangements. “We are working on completing the first revision of the current program of the International Monetary Fund and expect the IMF mission in September. I spoke about that during our telephone conversation with Ms. Kristalina Georgieva,” Zelensky said.
