The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has decided from October 25 to lower the refinancing rate to 15.5% per annum from 16.5% per annum, at which it has been since September 6 of this year.
“The National Bank continues the cycle of easing monetary policy, as it expects inflation to slow to the target of 5%,” the central bank said on Thursday.
The NBU Board said that the basis of this stable trend is the gradual weakening of fundamental pressure on prices, the sign of which is the rapid slowdown in underlying inflation.
“Tight monetary policy has become one of the reasons for the strengthening of the exchange rate and improvement of inflation expectations. This influences prices significantly and exceeds the influence of factors that, on the contrary, push prices upward, in particular, the effect of still stable consumer demand,” the regulator said.
According to its forecasts, inflation this year will drop to 6.3%, and next year it will fall into the target range and reach medium-term 5% at the end of 2020.
“As before, the sharpest decrease in the refinancing rate is expected during 2020 along with the return of inflation to the target range and the improvement of inflation expectations,” the NBU said.
The volume of construction work in Ukraine in September 2019 increased by 11.3% compared to September 2018, while in August 2019 compared to August 2018 this figure rose by 8.9%. According to the State Statistics Service, the data are given excluding the occupied territory of Crimea and the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
According to the agency, the volume of construction work in September increased by 7.2% compared to the previous month (according to seasonally adjusted data, it decreased by 2.1%), while compared to July 2019 this figure decreased by 11.5%.
According to the State Statistics Service, in September 2019 from September 2018 the volume of work increased in non-residential and engineering construction, and decreased in residential construction. According to uncorrected data, the growth in non-residential construction amounted to 14.2%, engineering some 19.4%. The decrease in the volume of work in residential construction amounted to 10.2%.
In addition, in September the volume of construction work in construction of residential buildings compared to August decreased by 4%, non-residential by 3.4%, while in the construction of engineering structures increased by 16.7%.
In January-September-2019 compared with January-September 2018, a drop in the volume of construction work was recorded in three regions of Ukraine, in particular, in Ivano-Frankivsk (by 5.6%, to UAH 2.090 billion), Cherkasy (1.1%, to UAH 1.275 billion), and Odesa (2.1%, to UAH 11.033 billion).
The largest growth in the volume of construction work over the nine months was recorded in Vinnytsia (two times, to UAH 5.892 billion), Chernihiv (1.6 times, to UAH 1.218 billion), and Kherson (1.38 times, to UAH 1.137 billion) regions.
In Kyiv, the volume of construction work for the nine months grew by 24.8% and amounted to UAH 26.966 billion.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 24/10/19
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of October 24
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
In November, the German-Ukrainian Fund (GUF) will present a new FinancEast program to support micro–, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the government-controlled territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, under which it is planned to reimburse up to 50% of the cost of investment projects of enterprises, GUF Executive Director Valeriy Mayboroda has said.
“This program is also co-financed by the EU and its amount is EUR9.5 million,” Country Manager to Ukraine of the KfW Development Bank Kurt Strasser said at a GUF press event in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to him, these will be subsidies to help medium- and small-sized enterprises that lack access to money over the difficult economic situation, as well as those who are located in the Donbas region.
The FinancEast program is co-financed by the EU through KfW, the GUF Executive Director said.
“The stage of the finalization of contracts and operational guidelines is nearing completion, and from November we will begin the active phase of its implementation,” Mayboroda said.
FinancEast materials indicate that investment projects for MSMEs are medium- and long-term ones for more than 12 months that are related to the purchase, modernization or reconstruction of fixed assets. Under an investment project, financing of current assets up to 20% of its value is allowed.
In 2019, the assets of a current program for lending SMEs in the national currency, which is designed until 2030, grew to EUR14.7 million, or 47%, since the launch of the project in 2017. This program is implemented by the GUF and financed by KfW and the EU.
Since the beginning of the project, 217 enterprises have been funded for a total of about UAH 710 million with an initial budget of the program being UAH 370 million. The average rate is 15.5% per annum. According to Mayboroda, the financial resource of the program was used twice due to the reuse of returned loans.
Partners under the GUF’s program are Kredobank, Ukrgasbank, ProCredit Bank and Bank Lviv. The GUF’s Executive Director said that negotiations with CreditWest Bank were also ongoing on its joining the program.
Azur Air Ukraine, together with the tour operator ANEX Tour, launches direct charter flights from Kyiv to the Republic of Cuba (the resort city of Varadero) from October 25, 2019 until the end of April 2020.
This was reported by representatives of the airline, the tour operator and the embassy of the Republic of Cuba at a press conference in Kyiv.
According to ANEX Tour Operations Director Iryna Ohanezova, flights will be operated every ten days.
“All full vacation packages are on our website. Each tour package includes a flight, an insurance policy, a hotel, transfer. In addition to a standard vacation in Varadero, we also offer tours with several days in Havana,” she said.
According to participants in the press conference, the embassy of the Republic of Cuba was the initiator of launching direct flights.
“We have been working on the opening of direct flights from Ukraine for a long time. This issue was resolved in different ways. Finally, all efforts were united, and this idea became a reality,” Acting Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba Natacha Diaz Aguilera said.
Azur Air Ukraine began its operations in 2009. The company is based at Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv region), however, it offers flights from the regions: Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Lviv, and Odesa. Currently, the company operates only charter flights.
