Ukraine’s retail trade in January-June 2018 increased by 6.2% in comparable prices compared to January-June 2017, the State Statistics Service said on Friday. In June 2018 alone, retail trade decreased by 0.8% compared to May 2018, but it grew by 6.3% compared to June 2017.
The highest growth in retail trade in January-June of 2018 was recorded in the following regions: Luhansk (24.0%), Poltava (10.4%), Donetsk (10.3%), Zakarpattia (10.2%), Vinnytsia (9.9%), Kyiv (9.3%) and Ternopil (8.4%) regions. The State Statistics Service recalls that the report does not include information from temporarily occupied areas of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and part of Russian-occupied Donbas in the east of Ukraine.
DONETSK REGION, HIGHEST GROWTH, LUHANSK, POLTAVA, RETAIL TRADE
The assets of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) as of July 1, 2018, amounted to UAH 942.724 billion, which was 8.2% less than at the beginning of the year.
Such financial indicators were published by the central bank in the parliamentary edition Holos Ukrayiny (the Voice of Ukraine) on Friday, July 20.
The amount of non-resident securities, which are part of the NBU’s assets, shrank most noticeably: by 10.1%, to UAH 372.725 billion, while holdings and special drawing rights (SDR) decreased by about 61%, to UAH 23.807 billion.
At the same time, the amount of funds and deposits in foreign currency and banking metals almost doubled, to UAH 49.806 billion.
In the structure of the NBU’s liabilities, the amount of obligations to transfer profits to the budget, fell by 85.2%, to UAH 6.614 billion, the amount of assets of government and other institutions fell by over 54.7%, to UAH 25.135 billion, while the liabilities of the National Bank before the International Monetary Fund shrank by 12.4%, to UAH 180.660 billion.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a new program USELF III (Ukraine Sustainable Energy Lending Facility) worth EUR 250 million to support private projects in renewable energy in Ukraine. EBRD Senior Adviser for External Relations Anton Usov told Interfax-Ukraine the board of directors made the corresponding decision at a meeting on July 18. The bank said it has been supporting the development of renewable energy in Ukraine within the framework of the USELF program since 2009, but it expires on June 30, 2018, and USELF III should replace it.
During the first program, the bank financed projects for total of more than EUR 100 million to fund projects with a total capacity of over 150 MW of various renewable energy technologies, the document says. The EBRD notes that as a result of the development of the renewable energy sector, interest from large international developers is growing, and they are ready to implement larger projects in the field of renewable energy.
The bank also says that despite the significant growth of the sector in Ukraine, its share remains insignificant at 1.5%, while the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy envisages the increase of this share to 11% by 2020.
Discussions are currently underway with the leadership of the Renault Group on the possibility of placing the production of this group’s cars in Ukraine, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said. “I met with the managers of a leading automaker, French company Renault, and now we are discussing the possibilities of placing the production of Renault cars in Ukraine,” Groysman wrote on his Facebook page. He noted that this would create additional jobs and expand the country’s export capabilities. The head of government expressed confidence that Ukraine could become a regional hub of automotive production. “We already have excellent examples of the work of enterprises producing both knots and parts and finished products for the Ukrainian and European markets,” Groysman said.
According to the website of the Ukrainian government, the meeting was attended by Senior Vice President, Chairman of the Renault Group for the Eurasian region Nicolas Maure, who also serves as President and CEO of PJSC AvtoVAZ (Russia), and Executive Vice-President for Sales and Marketing at PJSC AvtoVAZ Jan Ptacek, who headed Renault Ukraine until 2014.
The Renault Group has been making cars since 1898. Today it is an international multi-brand group, selling close to 3.5 million vehicles in 127 countries in 2016, with 36 manufacturing sites, 12,700 points of sale and employing more than 120,000 people.
Mauntex Agro LLC (Kharkiv) plans to reconstruct the former complex for fattening cattle and build new facilities for a pig farm with a closed production cycle in the village Dniprovske, Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the website of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. According to its data, the area of the complex will be 18.14 hectares. It is assumed that the annual capacity of the pig farm will reach 36,370 piglets (piglets weighing 30-32 kg) for subsequent fattening and 30,638 fattened young pigs with a live weight of 115-120 kg for sale to the meat processing plant.
The construction of the pig farm is to be carried out in ten stages. The start of the production cycle is planned after the commissioning of all construction stages.
According to the unified state register of legal entities and individuals, the founders of Mauntex Agro are Serhiy Zapara and Petro Maliar. The company is engaged in breeding pigs, meat production, meat products sale, as well as growing grain and oilseeds.
Odesa Regional State Administration has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the wind energy company Soratano Ukraine LLC. According to the press service of the administration, the document provides for the construction of a wind power plant in Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky district of Odesa region. The total amount of investments is about EUR250 million.
“We’ve agreed to cooperate in the implementation of a project, which provides for the construction of a 100 MW power plant,” the press service said citing Head of Odesa Regional State Administration Maksym Stepanov.
The report also notes that the power plant is designed for 30 wind generators. The investor plans to complete the construction until 2020.
According to open data, the founder of Soratano Ukraine LLC is Cypriot SORATANO LTD, the ultimate beneficiary is a citizen of Belgium residing in Ukraine. At the same time, there are no online references to the implementation of such projects by these companies. As reported, Odesa Regional State Administration agreed to implement a similar project with little-known Ukraine Power Resources.
BILHOROD-DNISTROVSKY DISTRICT, BUILD, ODESA REGION, SORATANO UKRAINE, WIND FARM
