Negotiations to unblock imports of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU between Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the European Commission (EC) continue. The EU offered a package of financial assistance to five countries neighboring Ukraine in exchange for the lifting of restrictive measures on Ukrainian agricultural products, informs the Ukrainian government portal.
“These countries will receive the package offered by the Commission on condition that member states cancel their unilateral measures,” EC Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said after a meeting with representatives of Ukraine and the five EU member states that restrict the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.
According to him, the European Commission understands the importance of a joint EU approach rather than unilateral decisions, which can lead to new bans and thereby endanger the internal European market.
“The Commission has taken note of the views of the participants. We agreed to continue political consultations in the coming days to find an early solution to this problem,” Dombrovskis summarized.
The ban on the transit of Ukrainian grain through the territory of Poland and other countries was imposed last week. Poland subsequently pledged to unblock the transit of Ukrainian products through the territory of a neighboring country.
The Kiev City Military Administration (KCMA) explained yesterday’s report about the probable fall of an American satellite by seeking to calm residents and guests of the capital agitated by a bright glow of incomprehensible origin.
“A very bright glow from the fall of an unknown object caused excitement and anxiety among Kiev residents. To reassure residents and guests of the capital, the Kiev city military administration released information about the probable fall of an American satellite and marked “preliminary information,” said in a statement by KGVA chief Sergei Popko in a telegram channel on Thursday.
Around 22:00 hours on April 19, an unknown air object was recorded falling in the sky within Kiev. “After checking and clarification, the information about the probable use of enemy aircraft or air strike with missile weapons was not confirmed,” the report said.
However, as noted, “at the time there was no data or warnings of a possible re-entry of a significant-sized space body into the Earth’s atmosphere from any global aerospace agency or astronomical observatory. However, there was a warning from NASA about their space satellite falling to Earth. Now, after an official statement from NASA, we can give clarified information – it was not their satellite.”
“What exactly it was – it is up to specialists to find out. But the most important thing is the safety of Kiev and the calmness of the people of Kiev. It was not a rocket attack, our air defense did not use available weapons,” Popko concluded.
Dynamics of prices for main agricultural products in structure of Ukraine’s export in 2020-2022
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Ukrzaliznytsia JSC has imposed a conventional ban on the transportation of food products to Slovakia, the company’s website says.
“It is forbidden to accept for transportation of cargo for the carrier JSC “ZSSK Cargo”, – noted in a note to the convention.
The ban applies to a large list of products: grains, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruit, sugar, alcohol, honey and more.
The restriction came into force on April 19, 2023 and will remain in force until it is lifted.
We shall remind you that “Ukrzaliznytsia” introduced several conventions on food imports to Poland. At the same time, more than 3 thousand freight cars with agricultural products are heading to this country.
Dynamics of gold and foreign reserves of Ukraine from 2012 to 2022
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
In February 2023 Ukrainian banks issued 126 mortgage loans totaling UAH 169.8 million, which is five times less than in February 2022 by number of such loans and by 69% – by volume, according to results of a monthly survey of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to it, four banks reported on the issuance of mortgages. Loans were mainly issued under state programs to support lending exclusively in the secondary market of real estate.
The weighted average effective rate on mortgages in February was 8.3%, while in January it was 7.5%.
According to the survey, the most loans were granted in Kiev and the region – 51 contracts totaling 77.5 million UAH (46% of the total amount), in Rivne – 10 contracts for 12.5 million UAH (7%) and in Vinnitsa region – seven contracts for 9.8 million UAH (6%).
