In February, JSC OTP BANK transferred UAH 1 million to the account of Superhumans Center, a non-profit project that provides prosthetics, complex reconstructive surgery, rehabilitation and psychological support to Ukrainians who have been injured in the war.
The transfer was made under the charitable donation agreement for 2023-2024 concluded between the Bank and Superhumans Center, which provides for monthly support to the center. The funds are allocated to two crucial areas: support for the heroes, returning them to social life, and the creation of an educational center to scale up assistance and training for prosthetics specialists.
The total amount transferred by OTP Bank to the Superhumans Center is currently over UAH 28.8 million.
As a reminder, in 2023, OTP Bank held two charity auctions, during which it raised UAH 8.8 million. All funds were allocated to the prosthetics and rehabilitation center.
The price of gold reached an all-time high in trading on Wednesday and continues to rise.
Quotes for April contracts on the New York Stock Exchange Comex on Thursday rose by 0.3% to $2163.9 per ounce. The previous trading session ended at a record high of $2158.2 per ounce.
The rally is supported by a weaker US dollar and lower government bond yields, Trading Economics notes. This, in turn, is due to hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon begin to cut interest rates amid the deteriorating situation in the country’s economy. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that it would probably be advisable to ease monetary policy “at some point this year.”
Based on futures quotes on the rate, traders currently estimate a 70% probability of a Fed rate cut in June.
“Gold is likely to move higher as bullish sentiment remains dominant,” said Tai Wong, an independent metals trader based in New York. – “However, it may take some time for the market to digest Powell’s comments and also to see Friday’s employment report.
Experts expect that the number of jobs in the US economy in February increased by 200 thousand (after an increase of 353 thousand the previous month), and unemployment remained at 3.7%.
The Government of Ukraine has expanded the terms of state grants under the program “eWork” for the development of horticulture, in particular, increased compensation for the cost of vineyard planting projects from 225 thousand UAH to 330 thousand UAH per 1 hectare of plantings, reported the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Wednesday.
It is indicated that the relevant changes to the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution of June 21, 2022 № 738 were made by the resolution № 241 on the initiative of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
It is noted that the agreed document proposes to change the conditions of planting and arrangement of planting on the land plot or on adjacent plots.
According to the new norms, grants will be provided not only for planting not more than 25 hectares of plantations with the installation of irrigation systems and water intake, but also for the arrangement of plantations on the land plot or on adjacent land plots, the total area of which is from 1 to 25 hectares.
The resolution also allows location between land plots of farm tracks, runs, field protective forest strips and other protective plantings, boundaries (rivers, streams, canals, forest strips, vegetation strips, trees, paths, ravines, gullies, ravines, wetlands).
According to the adopted document, at the same time the Cabinet of Ministers obliged grant recipients to attach scanned copies of the project of construction of a modular greenhouse with cost estimates, which must be signed by the project developer and irrigation project (in the absence of a corresponding section with calculations in the project of construction of a modular greenhouse) with indication of water intake sources (previously, project estimates and indication of water intake sources were not required) when registering an application on the portal “Dia”.
The government grant program “eWork” has been in effect since July 1, 2022 and provides support for small and medium-sized businesses. Among its advantages is the opportunity for everyone to create or develop their own business in the areas of “Own Business”, “Own Garden”, “Own Greenhouse”, and “New Level”.
In 2023, 131 orders were issued for grants for the development of horticulture, berry growing, viticulture (UAH 432.8 million) and greenhouse farming (UAH 159.4 million). It is expected to create about 15 thousand jobs.
Grants are provided in the amount of no more than 70% of the project cost and no more than UAH 10 million. The grant recipient must finance with its own or credit funds at least 30% of the project cost. A mandatory condition is employment of a certain number of workers: for orchards – from 5 to 10 permanent and 125-425 seasonal workers depending on the name of plantings, for greenhouses – at least 4 permanent and 10 seasonal workers per 1 hectare.
Funding for agro-producers under the government’s eWork program during 2024-2025 is provided through World Bank support under the “Emergency Inclusive Support for Ukraine’s Agricultural Recovery (ARISE) Emergency Project”.
The reference exchange rate of the hryvnia to the US dollar on the interbank foreign exchange market as of 12:00 a.m. on March 7, 2024.
Indicator 06.03.2024 07.03.2024 07.03.2024 Change, %.
Reference hryvnia to US dollar (UAH/$) 38.3099 38.1029 -0.54
Ukrainian car fleet in February was replenished with 17.8 thousand used cars imported from abroad, which is one third more than in the same month of 2023, Ukravtoprom reported in its Telegram channel.
As reported, new passenger cars for the same month, according to the association, registered 5.7 thousand (an increase of 51%).
The largest share in the segment of used foreign cars last month still belonged to gasoline cars – 48%. Then come: diesel cars – 27%; electric cars – 16%; cars with gasoline – 5%; hybrids – 4%.
The leader among imported “second hand” remains Volkswagen Golf – 963 registrations.
The top 10 most popular models also include: Renault Megane – 806 units; Skoda Octavia – 688 units; Volkswagen Passat – 572 units; Volkswagen Tiguan – 451 units; Nissan Leaf – 416 units; Nissan Rogue – 414 units; Audi Q5 – 409 units; Tesla Model 3 – 380 units and Audi A4 – 349 units.
The average age of used cars, transferred to Ukrainian license plates in February, is 9.4 years (in January of this year – 9.8 years).
In total, in January-February, 34.5 thousand used cars imported from abroad passed the first registration in Ukraine – 38% more than in the same period of 2023.
As reported, in February-2023 demand for used used foreign cars in Ukraine decreased by 54% to February-2022 – to 13.5 thousand units, and the leader was Renault Megan with 1049 cars.
For the whole last year registrations of such cars decreased by 45% against the previous year – to 214.4 thousand units.
The companies of Ukrtruboprom increased pipe production by 10.2% year-on-year to 495.6 thousand tons in 2023.
According to the association’s data on Wednesday, in 2023, pipe companies showed mixed dynamics.
In particular, Interpipe Nico Tube increased its seamless pipe production by 13.3%, while Trubostal reduced it by 42.5%. Ukrtruboizol increased production of electric-welded pipes by 43.8%, while Interpipe NMTZ decreased production by 53.8%. “Centravis increased production of stainless pipes by 11.7%. Oscar’s pipe production decreased by 30.5%.
At the same time, it is specified that in January 2023, 30.1 thousand tons of pipe products were produced (44.9% compared to January 2022), in February – 39.4 thousand tons (80.4% compared to February 2022), in March – 57.1 thousand tons (1631 tons (1631.4% compared to March 2022). tons (1631.4% compared to March 2022), in April – 42.3 thousand tons (228.6% compared to April 2022), in May – 49.6 thousand tons (96.5% compared to May 2022), in June – 35 thousand tons (67.8% compared to June 2022).
In July 2023, the company produced 43.9 thousand tons of pipes (112% compared to July 2022), in August – 41.8 thousand tons (114.5%), in September – 36.9 thousand tons (89.9%), in October – 39.7 thousand tons (98%), in November – 37.2 thousand tons (110.1%) and in December – 42.4 thousand tons (239.5%).
Georgiy Polskiy, CEO of Ukrtruboprom, noted that the Ukrainian pipe industry showed growth last year. This happened for the first time in two years of full-scale war, despite the proximity of many production sites to the front line and Nikopol being located directly in the war zone, which is subject to constant shelling.
“Against this backdrop, it is logical that we cannot talk about pre-war pipe production volumes: the results of 2023 are only 70% of the level of 2021. However, the production results for the year could have been higher if imported products from China had not entered the domestic market in large volumes, especially when analogues are produced in Ukraine. Chinese pipe products have simply flooded the Ukrainian market, both in the private segment and in tenders of state-owned companies,” stated the head of Ukrtruboprom.
He added that “that is why we were very enthusiastic about the establishment of the All-Ukrainian platform ‘Made in Ukraine’, which can help change the state economic policy.”
“This platform will help to solve the shameful problem of import penetration, in particular, in public tenders, thanks to the constant direct dialog between the state and business. At the same time, support for Ukrainian producers will become one of the key priorities of the government and parliament, which will strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities in wartime,” Polsky said.
As reported, Ukrtruboprom’s enterprises reduced pipe production by 37.9% in 2022 compared to 2021, to 449.7 thousand tons. In 2022, all plants showed negative dynamics. “Interpipe Niko Tube and Trubostal reduced production of seamless pipes by 31.1% and 61.6%, respectively, Centravis – stainless pipes by 38.3%, Interpipe NMTZ – electric-welded pipes by 67.1%. Production of pipes at Oscar fell by 20%, and only Ukrtruboizol reached the production level of 2021. Dnipropetrovs’k Pipe Plant has been idle and is in the process of liquidation.
