The aggregate state (direct) and state-guaranteed debt of Ukraine in April 2018 decreased by 0.41%, or by $320 million, to $77.05 billion, according to the website of the Ministry of Finance.
In the national currency, the national debt declined by 1.59%, or by UAH 32.62 billion, to UAH 2.021 trillion.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the reduction of state and state-guaranteed debt is due to both the repayment of part of obligations and the strengthening of the national currency exchange rate in the reporting period.
Since the beginning of the year, the aggregate state (direct) and state-guaranteed debt in U.S. dollar terms increased by 0.97%, or by $740 million, in the hryvnia declined by 5.64%, or by UAH 120.7 billion.
The ministry said public debt in April fell by 1.36%, to UAH 1.749 trillion (in dollars by 0.18%, to $66.67 billion), in particular external debt by 1.9%, to UAH 1.003 billion (in dollars by 0.73%, to $38.22 billion).
The state-guaranteed debt in April fell by 3.03%, to UAH 272.24 billion (in dollars by 1.87%, to $10.38 billion), in particular the external one by 3.19%, to UAH 258.54 billion (in dollars by 2.03%, to $9.86 billion).
The ministry noted the principal amount of the national debt was denominated in U.S. dollars – 41.35%, another 31.93% was in the hryvnia, 17.66% in special drawing rights, 7.9% in euros. In addition, less than 1% of the national debt is denominated in Canadian dollars and yen.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko at a meeting with Chief Executive Officer of DP World Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem has discussed the prospects of investing in Ukraine.
According to the presidential press service, Poroshenko noted the participation of the DP World official in a meeting of the National Investment Council and thanked him for his efforts to improve the investment climate in Ukraine.
The head of state noted the importance of increasing opportunities for investment in Ukraine and invited DP World to invest not only in the development of port infrastructure facilities.
In addition, the parties discussed the company’s plans to participate in the privatization program in Ukraine and continue investing in the state economy in the field of railway transport and agriculture.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, in turn, thanked the president of Ukraine for the opportunity to participate in the meeting of the National Investment Council, noting the benefits of such meetings for business representatives.
DP World is one of the world’s largest port operators.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko within the framework of the National Investment Council has met with President of Turkey’s Turkcell company Ahmet Akca and discussed the prospects of supporting the program of rural medicine.
“The interlocutors discussed the prospects of involving this company in the program of support for rural medicine in Ukraine, in particular taking into account its extensive experience in providing similar technical equipment in medicine, education, etc.,” reads a report on the presidential website.
The president of Ukraine noted that in accordance with his agreements with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukraine and Turkey had significantly increased their cooperation, especially in the economic sphere.
The parties are also finishing preparations to the meeting of the Strategic Council of the two countries, which should take into account the issues of cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey in the security, military-technical sphere, road construction and telecommunications, including the use of the Turkcell potential.
The president noted a “very responsible attitude towards doing business in Ukraine” of this company.
“I am grateful for your decision to increase the volume of investments into our country,” Poroshenko added.
The Turkcell chairman, in turn, thanked the president for an opportunity of his company to take part in the work of the National Investment Council.
“It was a very productive and effective meeting. I am particularly impressed with its spirit and positive energy,” Ahmet Akca noted.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and President of Azerbaijan’s SOCAR state-owned oil company Rovnag Abdullayev at a meeting in Kyiv discussed prospects of expanding cooperation in the sphere of supplies of high-quality aviation fuel and the possibility of its production in Ukraine.
The press service of the head of state reported on Saturday that the SOCAR president thanked for the opportunity to take part in the session of the National Investment Council under the President of Ukraine. He said that the company “feels comfortable in Ukraine and develops rapidly.”
The parties discussed the “Turkish projects” of the company, the involvement of Ukraine in them and the prospects for further development of the oil refining complex in Ukraine.
“Next year, after the completion of strategic projects in Turkey, all attention will be paid to Ukraine. As development here is very successful,” the president of SOCAR said, adding that “in ten years in Ukraine, good conditions for business have been created just recently.”
Poroshenko pointed out the strategic nature of cooperation between the two states.
“I believe that we must take full advantage of those opportunities for the development and deepening of cooperation, including in the energy sector,” the president said. He also pointed out the importance of using this potential to diversify energy supply to Ukraine.
The parties also discussed the possibility of expanding cooperation in the supply of high-quality aviation fuel and its possible production in Ukraine given sharp increase in the air passenger traffic at Ukrainian airports, in particular, Boryspil, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and other Ukrainian cities.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is one of the largest operators of the world fuel and energy market. The key areas of the company’s activities are: development of new deposits, oil and gas production, refining of oil products, trading and research activities.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov hope that the towns of Reni in Odesa region and Varna in Bulgaria would be connected by a highway.
“We have arranged that we would step up the issues of building a highway of the transport corridor between Reni in Odesa region and Varna [in Bulgaria] across Romania. I hope that the resources of the European Union will be on our side as well. We will also attract our Romanian partners. And we will do our best to ensure that in the near future you can drive from Odesa to Varna in a few hours,” Poroshenko told reporters on Saturday in Kyiv after the negotiations with the Bulgarian prime minister.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported that Poroshenko showed a map, which the Bulgarian prime minister brought, indicating the route of building the transport corridor.
“The map, which the president showed, lacks the signature of the Romanian side. The construction of this road will not be very expensive. It could be public private partnership or a joint fund of three states,” the president said.
The attractiveness of the Ukrainian real estate market for foreign investors is growing due to a decrease in the number of quality assets available for investment in Europe, Cushman & Wakefield consulting company has said.
“The narrowing of the range of investment opportunities in mature European markets creates the potential for growing interest in Europe’s peripheral markets. We already see investment interest from the countries that are our close neighbors (Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Serbia) and Ukraine has a chance to attract potential investors to its market,” the head of the capital markets department Cushman & Wakefield in Ukraine, Volodymyr Mysak, said.
According to him, the real estate market in Ukraine is undervalued: the possibility of rental growth is available in all segments of commercial real estate (offices, warehouses, retail space), and capitalization rates create attractive returns for investors.
“Capitalization rates for premium assets in office real estate are 12%, for retail space some 12.5%, and for logistics some 12.5-13%,” the expert said.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, in the fourth quarter of 2017 the European market attracted a record high volume of investments of EUR112 billion, after which the best quality assets across Europe are becoming increasingly scarce.
Cushman & Wakefield (formerly DTZ) was founded in New York in 1917. The company is a consultant in the field of commercial real estate with an annual income of $6 billion. Cushman & Wakefield operates in more than 70 countries, employing 45,000 people.
