KYIV. Oct 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on the margins of the European People’s Party summit in the Maastricht town (the Netherlands) has discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation in economic, energy and humanitarian spheres with new Prime Minister of Croatia Andrey Plenkovich.
“Poroshenko said that Ukraine is still interested in joining the Adriatic-Baltic-Black Sea Initiative, which is actively promoted by Croatia,” the press service of the Ukrainian head of state said on Thursday.
It was also agreed on the visit of Croatia’s prime minister to Ukraine in the near future.
KYIV. Oct 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The A2B Direct online platform for haulers, the ideologist of which was Ukrainian businessman and former lawmakers and former transport minister of Ukraine Yevhen Chervonenko, will be presented in Ukraine on October 20.
“Some 37 years ago I started my career driving MAZ and I know this sphere well. I know well how it is hard to earn each kopeck for haulers. A2B Direct is an innovative logistics ‘friend’ who will help to provide with the best service and reduce expenses on forwarding agents – bloodsuckers of Ukrainian and global markets. For my country this is ‘reform from below’ and I am proud that I launch it from Ukraine,” he said on Facebook.
According to him, A2B Direct online service ensures direct cooperation between haulers and cargo owners at all stages. One can find an optimal hauler online. A2B Direct is able to connect to the driver 24/7. It maintains the entire document cycle, insurance and legal accompanying. The service users will be able to track their cargo online and fully get rid of forwarders’ markups.
Haulers and cargo owners will be able to quickly find deals and plan their loading, reducing no-load trips to minimum.
From October the service is operating in the test mode in Ukraine. In 2017 it will be available for CIS states. The registration is available on the service’s website. It is free of charge for users until the end of 2016.
Among partners of the project are Kyivstar, WOG, OKKO, Alfa-Bank Ukraine, Bank Vostok and Unison insurance company. The project is launched with support of the Association of International Road Carriers of Ukraine (AsMAP).
KYIV. Oct 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched a project to credit small and medium-sized farmers and agricultural companies in rural areas in Ukraine via credit unions. The project will be implemented from 2016 until 2020.
“We hope that in four year we will be able to attract up to 24,000 new borrowers in agriculture. We want to make it thanks to cooperation with at least 68 credit unions,” Project Manager Eva Serzhynska said at a roundtable devoted to the International Day of Credit Unions in Kyiv on Wednesday.
She said that the project will be implemented in tight cooperation with the regulator, associations of credit unions and credit unions.
Head of projects and programs at the strategy and reform department of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Olena Onyschuk said that the first step in reforming the Ukrainian credit union market must be amendments to legislation. The central bank is actively working on a new bill on credit cooperation and some other documents, in particular, resolutions of the national commission for financial service markets regulation and a bill amending taxation.
“No one can fill the niche of credit unions, as this is the space for credit cooperation for poor people and for places where there is no possibility to open a bank – rural areas and small towns,” she said.
USAID will finance the project and the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) will implement it.
As reported, USAID’s Development Credit Authority (DCA) first started cooperating with Ukrainian credit unions in 2014. Then USAID jointly with five unions started implementing an eight-year program to support Ukrainian farmers in Lviv, Kherson and Kharkiv regions. The following credit unions participate in the program: Anisiya (Lviv), Vyhoda (Lviv region), Hromada, Narodna Dovira (Kherson), and Kharkiv Kasa Vzayemodopomohy (Kharkiv).
KYIV. Oct 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrposhta intends to submit a bill permitting the company to open current and deposit postal accounts for clients and issue payment cards, using which one can buy goods and pay for utility services, Ukrposhta Director General Ihor Smeliansky has said.
“This concerns the expansion of financial services of Ukrposhta via amending the law on postal service. The amendments would permit the company to open deposit and current accounts, pay for utilities, issue payment cards and provide encashment services. Ukrposhta would not issue credits,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
He said that the initiative would permit Ukrposhta to provide financial services to 30-40% of Ukrainian population who does not have access to them now due to remoteness of bank departments.
“If Ukrposhta is not permitted to do this, it would lose large revenue. This would finally result in large optimization of expenses or optimization of the network,” Smeliansky said.
It is proposed to create an alternative to bank accounts – postal accounts.
“The bill includes a new notion “postal accounts.” It is new for Ukraine, but it is ordinary international practice,” he said.
He added that Ukrposhta will use cards of the Prostir national payment system designed by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
Ukrposhta wants to design mobile applications and a website for online purchases.
Ukrposhta is managed by Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry.
KYIV. Oct 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB, Kyiv) has bought receivables for a credit issued by bank Forum where Chuhuyiv Butter Factory (Kharkiv region) was used as collateral.
The bank said that at the initial stage of construction the owner of the company raised a loan from FUIB using property as collateral and a loan from bank Forum secured by some equipment of the plant.
Chuhuyiv Butter Factory was launched in 2015. By that moment bank Forum was removed from the market.
“FUIB as the only investor had the entire burden to finance the company – the factory that depends on seasonal factors and requires annual financial investment to support production cycle,” the bank said.
Late September FUIB bought the credit of bank Forum at an open tender held by the Individuals Deposit Guarantee Fund for UAH 158.18 million.
KYIV. Oct 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – French group AgroGeneration with assets in Ukraine in January-June 2016 posted EUR 233,000 of net profit against a net loss of EUR 5.41 million in the same period of 2015.
According to a company report, its sales revenues increased by 24%, to EUR 3.83 million, reflecting an increase in agricultural stocks at the end of the reporting period.
The company’s gross profit at the end of the first half of 2016 decreased by 26%, to EUR 8.77 million, operating profit by 33%, to EUR 4.12 million. EBITDA as of June 30 amounted to EUR 5.8 million, which is 30.6% less than on the same date in 2015.
The group’s net debt at the end of the first half of 2016 amounted to EUR 44.8 million against EUR46.3 million as of June 30, 2015.
As reported, French group AgroGeneration was founded in 2007. It specializes in growing grains and oilseeds. In Ukraine the group currently cultivates about 120,000 hectares of land.
In October 2013 AgroGeneration completed its merger with Ukrainian agricultural company Harmelia.
