Heat map of risks for the financial sector of Ukraine
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Portuguese aid to Ukraine in 2024 will exceed EUR220 million, Portuguese Prime Minister Luiz Montenegro announced in Washington, DC, where he is attending the 2024 NATO Summit.
According to the Portuguese government’s website, the same amount of aid will be allocated in 2025.
The prime minister said he had committed to presenting at the summit Portugal’s plan to reach 2% of GDP in defense, security and investment spending in 2029, which will amount to EUR6 billion. As part of this investment in security and defense, “a large-scale financial contribution to the international coalition, to military, humanitarian, political and economic assistance to Ukraine is also envisaged,” he added.
In addition, Montenegro noted that investments “in the attraction and retention of human capital, as well as in the development of military careers” will be increased.
Passenger flow through western border of Ukraine in february 2024, thousand
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Prime Minister holds first official bilateral talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at NATO summit in Washington
The new government will stick to plans to spend at least £3 billion a year on military support for Ukraine “for as long as it takes” in its conflict with Russia, Keir Starmer has said.
After his first official bilateral talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Washington, the Prime Minister confirmed that military aid would continue until at least 2030-31.
To date, the United Kingdom has pledged nearly £12 billion to support Ukraine since February 2022, of which £7.1 billion is for military aid. The rest is for humanitarian and economic support.
During his talks with Zelenskyy, Starmer emphasized that Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to NATO membership. However, diplomats at the NATO summit say that setting any firm timetable would be a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Thursday, the prime minister will tell his fellow leaders this: “NATO was founded by the generation that defeated fascism. They understood not only the value of our strength, but also the value of our values.
“These values are under threat again. Putin needs to hear a clear message coming out of this summit – a message of unity and determination that we will stand by Ukraine with all means necessary and for as long as it takes to protect our shared values and our common security.”
At the summit, Starmer met with U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time. Photo: Shawn Thew/EPA
British officials said that despite the potential return to the White House of Donald Trump, whose commitment to NATO and Ukraine remains unclear, they are focused on getting the alliance in the best shape possible, regardless of who wins the US election.
Starmer called on NATO allies to increase defense spending in response to rising global threats, including from Russia, as he unveiled an overview of the UK’s plans to spend tens of billions of pounds more on the military.
He will tell the other 31 NATO countries that the front line of defense in the Euro-Atlantic region is in the Ukrainian trenches, and that the international community cannot waver in the face of unrelenting Russian aggression.
One of Kyiv’s most urgent requests from NATO is for multi-year funding to allow it to plan its defense against Russian forces. The UK will deliver a new package of artillery and 90 Brimstone missiles in the coming weeks.
Next week, the government will launch a strategic defense review, but it is likely to take up to a year, meaning that Starmer is under increasing pressure to confirm a timetable for increasing UK defense spending to the 2.5% of GDP target.
However, Luke Pollard, the Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, said on Wednesday that the government will not increase spending on the military if it cannot ensure economic growth.
“The way to increase public spending on defense, on schools, hospitals or prisons is through the growth of our economy,” he said in an interview with the BBC.
“If we don’t grow our economy, we won’t have the money to support the public services and ambitions we have – and that includes defense.”
A senior G10 source suggested that the 2.5% commitment would remain in place regardless of whether the new government meets its growth targets, and even if it raises difficult questions about how it will be funded.
“Yes, of course,” they said. “The commitment to defense is absolute. But we are also confident that we will get growth in the economy, so I don’t agree that we should wait for one or the other.”
Downing Street could not confirm whether the Strategic Defense Review would be published before the Comprehensive Spending Review, expected this fall, but suggested it would not take a full year.
Starmer first met Joe Biden at an event on the sidelines of the NATO summit. They exchanged a few words in private, shaking hands in front of the cameras. Later, Starmer held his first bilateral talks with the US president at the White House.
The prime minister, a passionate soccer fan, presented the president with an Arsenal shirt with the name “Biden” and the number 46 on the back, a reference to his status as the 46th president of the United States. “It’s [Starmer’s] team, and [he] thought it would be a personal gift,” said a senior official at No. 10.
Earlier, he presented Emmanuel Macron, the French president, with an Arsenal shirt. He also presented Biden with a framed copy of the original Atlantic Charter that led to the creation of NATO, as amended by then-Labor Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
Freight transportation by rail, mln tons
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Nova Poshta LLC, the largest logistics operator in Ukraine and a member of the NOVA group, has fully placed its issue of interest-bearing unsecured E series bonds with a total nominal value of UAH 1 billion.
According to a report by the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), the company registered the report on the results of the issue on July 4, while the issue was initially registered on April 26 this year.
On May 21, the State Oschadbank (Kyiv) announced that it had entered into an agreement with Nova Poshta to purchase 15-month series E bonds worth UAH 650 million. It was clarified that this is the third deal since 2019 to finance Nova Poshta by the state-owned bank through the purchase of corporate bonds.
“Thanks to the financing raised, Nova Poshta has the opportunity to actively invest in the development and improvement of operational processes, quickly recover from the shelling of infrastructure, and our customers can continue to receive quality service,” Serhiy Yermolenko, Director of the Corporate Finance Department of the NOVA Group, was quoted as saying.
As reported, on April 26, the NSSMC also registered a UAH 1 billion issue of F series bonds on April 26, but there is no information on the results of this issue yet.
According to the 2023 report, the public offering of E series bonds started on February 19 this year, F series – on March 19, and their maturity dates are February 18 and March 18, 2027, respectively.
In 2023, Nova Poshta made two bond issues – “C” and “D” – each with a nominal amount of UAH 800 million. The C series bonds were issued for a 12-month term with a 24% p.a. interest rate, while the D series bonds were issued for a 20-month term with a 23% p.a. interest rate.
Earlier, in February 2023, Nova Poshta redeemed the UAH 700 million of Series B bonds issued in March 2020.
In 2023, the consolidated net income of “Nova Poshta” LLC amounted to UAH 43.65 billion, which is 53.3% more than in 2022, and the consolidated net profit reached UAH 4.28 billion, which is 31.1% better than in 2022.
According to its unconsolidated financial statements, in 2023, Nova Poshta LLC increased its net profit by 85.7% to UAH 3 billion 967.2 million, while its revenue increased by 54% to UAH 36.47 billion.
