The International Finance Corporation (IFC) from the World Bank group has signed loan agreements on the provision of financing to the largest sugar producer in Ukraine Astarta for the amount of $30 million and the large pork producer Nyva Pereyaslavschyny for $12.5 million.
“Agribusiness is a priority for IFC globally, and Ukraine is very important to our strategy in the sector,’ Stephanie von Friedeburg, IFC’s chief operating officer, said during a signing ceremony in Kyiv.
According to the press release, IFC’s financing will support a two-year investment program aimed at improving the company’s resource efficiency and competitiveness by modernizing its sugar plants. This would help reduce the use of gas, electricity, and water. The program also aims to help Astarta—which grows and trades grain and oilseed—purchase modern and efficient farm machinery and construct of new storage facilities.
IFC is providing long-term debt financing to support Nyva’s investment program, which includes constructing a new meat-processing facility that will become one of the country’s first to comply with European Union standards for food safety and animal welfare. The company will also build a new pig farm and a rendering plant capable of recycling up to 50 tonnes of waste every day, helping to reduce its environmental footprint.
This is IFC’s second investment in Nyva.
Pork production in Ukraine remains inefficient and highly fragmented, with many smaller producers lacking sufficient quality controls, IFC said.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a list of 477 investment programs and regional development projects for the total amount of over UAH 4 billion, which will be financed by the State Regional Development Fund in 2018.
“We have approved the first list of investment programs and regional development projects that will be financed from the State Regional Development Fund in 2018. Now 477 projects for a total of more than UAH 4 billion are approved,” the press service of the Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry of Ukraine reported with reference to the decision of the government on Wednesday.
Some 80 educational facilities (regular schools and kindergartens) for the amount of UAH 1.3 billion will be built in the regions at the expense of the State Regional Development Fund, 95 facilities of public health and social protection – UAH 804 million, 78 sports facilities – UAH 740 million, 36 water supply and sewage facilities – UAH 200 million, 25 facilities of road and transport infrastructure – UAH 334 million, and 26 cultural facilities – UAH 397 million.
The draft resolution on financing at the expense of the State Regional Development Fund includes projects that have been submitted to the Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Luhansk, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv regional administrations and Kyiv City Administration.
Industrial production in Ukraine in April 2018 increased by 3% compared with April 2017, while the figure in March 2018 year-over-year was 1%, it was 1.9% in February 2018 and 3.6% in January 2018, the State Statistics Service said on Wednesday.
The authority said that with the adjustment to the effect of calendar days, industrial production in April 2018 rose by the same 3% compared with April 2017, whereas growth in March 2018 from March 2017 was by 1.6%.
Industrial production in April 2018 from March 2018 decreased by 5%, and the drop was 0.6% if the seasonal factor is taken into account.
In January-April 2018, industrial production growth accelerated to 2.6% from the same period of last year, against 2.4% in the first three months. In particular, the mining industry showed an increase from 2.3% to 3.1%, the supply of electricity, gas and steam grew from 2.1% to 3.6%. However, the processing industry demonstrated a slowdown from 2.5% to 2.2%.
The processing industry in April 2018 from April 2017 increased production by 0.8%, the mining industry by 5.6%, while in the supply of electricity, gas and steam grew by 8.6%.
In Luhansk region industrial production grew by 3% in April 2018 year-over-year, and in Donetsk region – by 11.5%.
Growth in industrial production in April 2018 was seen in Ivano-Frankivsk (14.8%), Volyn (8.3%), Poltava (8%), Sumy (6.4%), Kyiv (4%), Cherkasy and Chernivtsi (6.1% each) regions.
As reported, industrial production in Ukraine in 2017 fell by 0.1% after growth by 2.4% in 2016. The decline of 13% was seen in 2015, 10.1% in 2014, 4.3% in 2013 and 0.7% in 2012.
Vodafone Ukraine, the mobile communications operator, saw UAH 2.9 billion of revenue in January-March 2018, which is 2.1% more than a year ago.
According to a financial report of the operator published on Wednesday, net profit in Q1 2018 fell by 30.75%, to UAH 367 million.
Operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) grew by 17.6% year-over-year, to UAH 1.5 billion.
OIBDA margin reached 52.8%, a rise by 7 percentage points (p.p.) year-over-year.
Net profit in Q1 2018 totaled UAH 367 million, which is UAH 163 million less than a year ago. The main reasons for the reduction of profit were the increase in amortization expenses and devaluation of long-term assets in eastern Ukraine.
Subscribers’ revenue in Q1 2018 grew mainly thanks to organic growth of revenue from data transfer. In the period, Vodafone Ukraine increased revenue from data transfer 1.5-fold.
The subscribers’ base reached 20.7 million clients in Q1 2018. The number of data users grew by 1.2 million in a year.
Early 2018 Vodafone Ukraine significantly increased investment in infrastructure – UAH 1.2 billion in Q1 2018, including the cost of 4G licenses, investment in development of 3G and 4G networks.
Today high-speed 4G Internet is provided in 25 cities of Ukraine. Over 1 million clients of Vodafone Ukraine used 4G mobile Internet. 3G coverage is available for over 80% of residents of Ukraine in over 10,000 cities and towns.
Vodafone Ukraine is the second largest mobile communications operator in the country which serviced 20.8 million subscribers as of late 2017.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
