KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – An export-insurance agency could be created in 2017 if the financing of the project were included in the draft national budget, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade and Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska has said.
“If the funds are foreseen in the next year’s budget, the export-insurance agency could be created next year,” she told reporters after a roundtable devoted to development of the exports strategy.
She said that from the moment of creation of the export-insurance agency until the provision of first service from six to nine months will pass.
Mykolska said that the state does not have funds to create the full-featured export-credit agency. Additionally, Ukraine is to observe the requirement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cut public expenses. She assumed that initially the agency would provide insurance, underwriting and reinsurance services.
She said that if there were funds the export-insurance agency could be turned into an export-credit agency. She said that UAH 250-300 million is required for this and the sum could be injected in two tranches during two years.
She said that the full-featured export-credit agency could be created when the macroeconomic situation is stabilized in Ukraine and the country ends cooperation with the IMF.
KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Agrofusion Group, the largest Ukrainian vertically integrated producer of tomato paste, plans to implement an investment project worth a total of UAH 1.5 billion to build a plant for tomato processing.
According to a report on the website of Snihurivka District Administration (Mykolaiv region), with reference to holding representative Ivan Shulha, the project will be implemented in this district. The plant will employ more than 300 people, while 700 people will work in a greenhouse and in the field.
Agrofusion Group did not specify the details of building the new enterprise.
As reported, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group could issue $10 million to Agrofusion Group to finance working capital. These funds will enable Agrofusion to refinance the existing short-term credit lines issued from local banks for a total of $4.3 million, finance working capital for $5.7 million, which is due to increased production. In addition, the holding will be able to strengthen its position in the Ukrainian market, expand exports to the countries of Central Europe and the CIS (except for the Russian Federation).
Agrofusion Group in 2014 reached its maximum production of 52,778 tonnes of tomato paste, in 2015 it expanded its capabilities through investment, reaching a figure of 61,500 tonnes.
Agrofusion Group, founded by Serhiy Sypko in 2007, has been an IFC client since 2012.
KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The shareholders of Citibank (Kyiv) have decided to increase charter capital by 80.5%, or by UAH 53.5 million, to UAH 120 million.
According to the bank’s website, the decision was made at a general meeting of shareholders on April 15.
The bank plans to increase charter capital by increasing the nominal value of shares from UAH 5,000 to UAH 9,023.
The increase in the bank’s charter capital will be held at expense of part of its retained profit for 2014.
Citibank was founded in 1998 and is a subsidiary of U.S. Citibank NA. The largest shareholders of the financial institution on January 1, 2016 were Citibank Overseas Investment Corporation (67%) and Citicorp Leasing International LLC (33%).
KYIV. April 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Kyivkhlib, a large bread producer in Kyiv, seeks to export its cakes to the United States and Canada.
According to a company report, the company in 2015 exported crackers, round cracknels and confectionary products to Germany, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria and the Netherlands.
Kyivkhlib last year designed 29 new products: 20 bread products and nine confectionary products.
Bread and bread products output last year totaled 168,373 tonnes, confectionary products – 7,227 tonnes, semi-finished products – 5,400 tonnes, macaroni – 34,300 tonnes and bread crumbs – 2,233 tonnes.
The share of crackers and round cracknels of total sales in 2015 increased by 0.7% and cake and pastry sales – by 1.7%. The share of rich fermented goods decreased by 0.1%, popular bread – 1.2% and good-quality bread – 1.1%.
The company in 2016 seeks to retain its positions on the bread market in Kyiv, launch production of new types of goods and settle the issue of producing ordered cakes.
KYIV. April 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Suma Chakrabarti at a meeting in Kyiv have discussed the prospects and directions of bilateral cooperation.
“I would like us to synchronize our watches to make our interaction more qualitative,” Groysman said.
He thanked the EBRD for support in overcoming the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster.
“You know how tragic this event was for our country. I hope we’ll manage to work together to complete what is necessary to stabilize the situation in this area in particular and in the whole country,” he said.
Chakrabarti, in turn, assured the EBRD is ready to support Ukraine on the path of reforms.
At the same time, the press service of the Cabinet said the EBRD representatives pointed to the need to remove bureaucratic and regulatory barriers to the use of funds issued by the bank for various projects in Ukraine and urged the prime minister to promote carrying out reforms in the country.
KYIV. April 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers will spend UAH 18-19 billion on road repair and construction across the country, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has said.
“Today we are closer to solving the problem of large-scale road repairs and construction in Ukraine, we’ll allocate about UAH 18-19 billion to do as much as possible in this work across the country,” he said in a video message posted on his personal Facebook page.
Groysman noted that the procedure would take several months “because time was lost, but we’ll cope with that.”
