Deloitte Touche Japan and Green Power Development Japan (both based in Japan) are interested in building solar power plants with the capacity of up to 1.2 GW in the Chornobyl exclusion zone. This information was made public at a meeting of Olha Buslavets, the Director General of the Energy Markets Directorate of the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, Masatoshi Nishimoto, the Director of Deloitte Touche Japan, the Executive Director of Green Power Development Japan, and representatives of the Japanese government in Kyiv on January 30.
According to the press service of the ministry, during the meeting the parties discussed the economic and technical aspects of construction of solar plants, as well as a draft law on the introduction of “green” auctions.
As reported, the construction of a pilot solar plant with a capacity of 1 MW of the Enerparc AG-Rodina Energy Group consortium was completed in early 2018. In the autumn of 2018, the consortium announced its intention to increase the station’s capacity to 100 MW.
Ukrainians are ready to cast more votes for presidential candidate and showman Volodymyr Zelensky, who, with a slight margin, is followed by leader of the Batkivschyna Party Yulia Tymoshenko. The incumbent head of state, Petro Poroshenko, ranks third, according to the findings of a poll conducted by Rating Group in January 2019, which were presented at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine. According to the data, the leader of the presidential race is Zelensky, who is supported by 19.0% of those who plan to vote, Tymoshenko secured the support of 18.2% of respondents, while 15.1% are ready to vote for Poroshenko.
Ukrainian banks expect that lending and inflow of deposits continue in 2019, they also count on improvement of the loan portfolio, according to the poll on the conditions of banking lending conducted by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). According to a report posted on the central bank’s website, three quarters of the banks surveyed predict growth in corporate loans in 2019, 62% of respondents – the growth of consumer loans.
Some 66% of respondents predict the continuation of the inflow of deposits from the public in 2019, 67% – the inflow of business funds.
“The value of deposits is the highest in the entire history of observations,” the NBU said.
In the fourth quarter of 2018, the demand for loans continued to increase both from the public and business, due to the growing needs of enterprises in funds for capital investment and replenishment of working capital, as well as debt restructuring. At the same time, the business was mainly interested in short-term hryvnia loans.
In the fourth quarter of 2018, banks somewhat increased the standards for approving applications for all types of business loans along with deteriorating expectations, primarily for the exchange rate and economic development, as well as increased collateral risk. However, in the first quarter of 2019, banks plan to slightly relax domestic business lending requirements, especially for loans to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Consumer lending contributed to growth in the retail loan portfolio in the fourth quarter of 2018. The demand for respective loans was linked to an improvement in consumer confidence and a rise in spending on durable goods.
Standards for loans issued to households have not changed.
According to the report, banks, for the first time in five quarters, noted a decrease in liquidity risk.
“Banks expect that credit, currency and operational risks will increase in the first quarter of 2019, liquidity risks will decrease, interest rates will not change,” the NBU said.
The survey was conducted from December 18, 2018 to January 10, 2019 among the loan managers of 61 banks, which share of the total assets of the banking system is 96%. The next survey on bank lending will be about expectations for the second quarter of 2019 and will be published in April.
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The department of the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate in Kherson region in late January 2019 put into operation the first two stages of the 14.4 MW Overyanivka wind farm, which is being built by Windkraft Ukraine (Skadovsk, Kherson region). According to the website of the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate, the total planned capacity of the plant is 69 MW.
Windkraft Ukraine LLC in the fall of last year reported that by the end of 2018 it plans to increase the installed capacity of its wind farms in Kherson region to 170 MW and is considering the next project to increase them by another 150-170 MW.
