Demand for apartments in Ukraine as a whole remains stable, and with the end of the lockdown there has been an upward trend, Director General of the Finance and Investment Association (FIMA) Viktoria Volkovska has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“According to a FIMA study, still the majority [76.9%] – buyers who report a desire to improve their living conditions. The share of investors purchasing housing for rent is about 38.5%. Such categories as displaced persons from the East and Crimea, of course, are present, but do not constitute a significant amount,” she said.
According to an online survey of construction finance fund managers, conducted following the first half of 2021, some 61.5% of respondents said that demand for housing has not changed significantly, and 15.4% said that demand has decreased by 10-20%. At the same time, 15.4% of respondents said that demand increased by 10-20% and 7.7% – by more than 20%.
“In early 2021, due to a prolonged quarantine period and a drop in income, we noted shrinkage in real demand. In April-May 2021, the situation changed for the better and the number of apartments sold reached the pre-quarantine level. Now the real estate market is showing a tendency towards full recovery to the indicators of a relatively successful 2019,” Yuriy Zavialych, the director of financial company Intersvit LLC (Lviv), said.
The Finance and Investment Management Association (FIMA) was established in May 2020. It unites 41 financial companies-managers of construction financing funds in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytsky and Kharkiv.
Ukraine is to place an additional $500 million 2029 eurobonds at 6.3%, a banking sector source told Interfax.
Initial yield guidance for the additional tranche maturing in 2029 was 6.625%. During book building, Ukraine was able to reduce the yield, with final guidance set in the range of 6.3%-6.4%.
Demand for the country’s eurobonds exceeded $1.8 billion at its peak, and stood at about $1.7 billion in final bidding.
BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs are the organizers of the deal.
Ukraine placed $1.25 billion in eurobonds maturing in 2029 in April of this year at a coupon rate of 6.876%.
The Swedish government has allowed Ukrainian citizens to enter the country since July 26.
“On July 22, the government decided that residents of Ukraine will be exempted from the entry ban, and residents of Rwanda and Thailand will no longer be exempted from the entry ban. These amendments apply from July 26, 2021,” the Swedish government said on its website.
According to the tripadvisor.mfa.gov.ua website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the requirement for a negative PCR test for COVID-19 or a vaccination certificate (COVID certificate) remains in force when foreigners enter the country, who are not covered by entry ban.
Currently, Sweden only recognizes vaccination certificates issued in the EU/EEA countries or in Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland or the Vatican.
Entry into the country will be allowed if 14 days have passed since the date of the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
It is also noted that Sweden recognizes vaccines approved under the EU regulation 726/2004, or approved by WHO for emergency use. In particular, Sweden approved vaccines such as Comirnaty (COVID-19 vaccine BioNtech Tozinameran,) Spikevax (COVID-19 vaccine Moderna), Vaxzevria (COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca), COVID-19 vaccine Janssen, COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca/SKBio, COVISHIELD (Serum Institute of India COVID-19 vaccine), COVID-19 vaccine BIBP/Sinopharm, CoronaVac (COVID-19 vaccin Sinovac).
The PCR test must be done 48 hours before entering Sweden (the time is counted from the moment of delivery of the biological material). The requirement applies to foreigners who are over 18 years old. A COVID-19 test can be done at Arlanda Airport (http://www.airportsky.se/). Citizens traveling from Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway are exempt from the requirement to have a negative test for COVID-19 upon entry into the country. Detailed information is available on the websites of the Swedish government and police.
FOREIGN TRADE TURNOVER BY THE MOST IMPORTANT POSITIONS IN JAN-APRIL 2021 (EXPORT)
Industrial production in Ukraine in June 2021 increased by 1.1% compared to June 2020, while in May the growth was 5.4%, and in April – 13%, the State Statistics Service has reported.
The agency clarified that, adjusted for the effect of calendar days, the growth of industrial production in the past month was even lower – 0.7%.
The State Statistics Service indicates that compared with May this year, industrial production remained at the same level, and, taking into account the seasonal adjustment, decreased by 0.7%.
The growth in processing industry in June 2021 from June 2020 was 2.5%, in extracting industry and quarrying – 2.5%, while in the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning a decline was 5.5%.
In general, for the first half of the year, the department also recorded a slowdown in the growth of industrial production to 2.1% from 2.2% in the first five months. In particular, in processing industry the rate remained the same – 2.5%, while in the supply of electricity, gas, steam and conditioned air the rate decreased from 2.9% to 1.7%, and in extracting industry and quarrying it rose from 1.2% to 1.4%.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) expects inflation to rise to 11% in 2021, according to a chart released by the central bank.
According to the forecast of the rate curve, the regulator expects inflation to slow down with a return to the 5% target in the second half of 2022.
It is indicated that with a probability of 30%, the inflation rate by the second half of 2022 will be in the range of 4-7.5%.
