Leaders of five Central and Eastern European countries have urged the European Commission to take action in connection with a surplus of grain and other Ukrainian food on their territory, the Associated Press reported from Warsaw.
“We call on the European Commission to study the possibility of buying accumulated grain from EU member states bordering Ukraine for humanitarian needs,” reads a letter addressed to EC President Ursula von der Leyen on behalf of the prime ministers of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
“We also reiterate our call for financial support from the EU to accelerate the development of transport infrastructure (for the export of grain – IF),” it says.
It is pointed out that such products remain on the shelves of these countries in excess, reducing prices, and do not reach the countries that are ready to buy them outside the EU.
The European Commission earlier said that it intended to quickly launch an assistance mechanism for countries that faced an influx of Ukrainian products.
Reinstating the obligation for officials to file asset and income declarations in the coming months is one of the conditions of the $15.6 billion expanded EFF financing program approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Ukraine on Friday, Fund mission chief Gavin Gray said.
“Under the program, the authorities are committed to a targeted recovery of asset declarations even in the current circumstances. We see this as an important measure…,” he said at a briefing Friday.
Gray specified that the IMF will work with the authorities on this issue in order to resolve it by the first review of the program in June-July this year.
As reported, in February this year, the ambassadors of G7 countries in Ukraine expressed hope that the Verkhovna Rada will soon resume the system of electronic declaration of assets and income of officials, which was suspended during martial law, which “will prevent corruption and strengthen citizens’ trust in government.
Chairman of the National Agency for Combating Corruption (NACC) Oleksandr Novikov said in mid-March that he expects the resumption of declarations in the next two months, but believes that the public part of the register of declarations should remain hidden until the end of the war.
According to him, all public authorities have access to the data of the register of declarations and the data they need to perform their official duties.
Declarations for the year 2022 filed about 6% of declarants. For 2021 – up to 50%, including two deputy heads of the presidential office, the Minister of Education and Science, the Minister of Defense, 28 people’s deputies, five heads of regional military administrations and 163 judges.
26 risk insurers and one life insurer will leave the insurance market of Ukraine in 2022, according to a review of the non-banking financial sector, published on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to the NBU, in the fourth quarter of 2022 the volume of gross premiums of life insurance companies increased by 9%, while the risk insurance, on the contrary, decreased by 8%.
In general in 2022 the volume of premiums on life insurance decreased by 17%, and risk insurance – by 21%. At the same time, insurers’ payouts were almost unchanged, for the quarter. At the same time for the year for life insurance premiums increased by 7%, risk insurance – decreased by almost a third.
The share of premiums on motor insurance (Casco, CMTPL and Green Card) in 2022 increased by 10 p.p. – to 49%. In particular, the volume of premiums “Green Card” more than doubled compared to the previous year, and payments almost by a third. At the same time, premiums for property insurance and insurance of financial risks more than halved, and their payments decreased by 62%.
The volume of gross premiums ceded in reinsurance, for the year decreased by more than two times, and reimbursements – almost 60%. For the fourth quarter, premiums to reinsurers decreased by 36%, and reimbursements – by 40%.
The NBU notes that the total amount of reserves for losses of insurers remained almost unchanged for the quarter, but had different dynamics in relation to separate types of insurance: for voluntary types the reserves for losses slightly decreased by 7% in comparison with the third quarter; for compulsory types – increased by 10% in comparison with the previous quarter. In annual terms, reserves for losses on both voluntary and compulsory types of insurance increased by 36%.
Investment income of risk insurers in 2022 increased almost one and a half times compared with the previous year. Most of this income was interest on bank deposits. However, the growth of investment income could not cover the increase in operating expenses. The operating efficiency ratio increased to 88%.
In the fourth quarter of last year, one of the life insurance market leaders reclassified investment income, resulting in a significant decrease. Excluding this company’s data, life insurers’ investment income increased 30% year-over-year and 12% quarter-over-quarter. Deposit income was up 36% to the previous quarter, while income from investments in GSEs remained flat.
Risk and life insurers ended the fourth quarter with a small loss, but both groups were fairly profitable for the year.
Return on equity for risk insurers was 15%, and for life insurers – 13%.
For the fourth quarter of 2022, life insurers’ assets increased 3%, and for all of 2022, they increased 18%. Assets of risk insurers declined slightly over the quarter, but rose 6% for the full year.
As of January 1, 2023, seven insurers had violated at least one of the solvency and capital adequacy and transaction risk ratios.
PrJSC Centravis Production Ukraine, part of the holding Centravis Ltd, in 2022 exported 11.6 thousand tons of seamless stainless steel tubes to 46 countries, reducing shipments in kind by 33% compared with the previous year.
According to the company’s press release on Friday, its revenue last year was EUR125.8 million, down 9% from 2021.
At the same time, it is explained that the decrease in supplies is due to the beginning of a large-scale war and all the consequences caused by the conduct of military operations in Ukraine. In particular, the need to restructure logistics, power shortages, shelling, etc.
At the same time Centravis has kept high volume of production at its main plants and enters top-10 of the largest world manufacturers of seamless stainless tubes, the press release says.
It is also noted that according to Forbes magazine rating, Centravis company (Nikopol, Dnepropetrovsk region) was included in the 50 largest exporters of 2022 – the companies, which, according to the magazine editorial board, “gave the opportunity to the Ukrainian economy to survive”.
“Last year we supplied pipes to 46 countries of the world. Each delivery is a separate story, because after the beginning of the brutal Russian aggression we had to convince our partners that our team is able to fulfill all our obligations. We have adapted, become more stable and continue to develop the company, increase export and support the Ukrainian economy”, – General Director of “Centravis” Yuriy Atanasov said, who is quoted by the press service.
It is specified that “Centravis” delivered more seamless stainless tubes to Germany, Italy and the United States. The greatest demand was for general tubes and pipes for general purposes – 37% of total exports, pipes for machining – 25%, as well as tubes for tool and automotive segments – 24%.
As we reported earlier, in February this year the company opened new production in Uzhgorod, which specializes in tool tubes for the world’s leading automotive brands (Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, and Chevrolet). The total investment amounted to more than 2.7 million euros. The new plant has about 100 employees, but this year it is planned to expand and build the second stage.
“Centravis was founded in 2000 and is among the ten largest manufacturers of seamless stainless steel tubes in the world. Its main production capacities are located in Nikopol (Dnepropetrovsk region). In 2022 the company has realized a number of large-scale orders for such world companies as Benteler Automotive, LINSTER Edelstahlhandel, Rohr Mertel, Buhlmann Group, Webco, MRC. The company employs more than 1400 people.
Holding Centravis Ltd. was created on the base of Nikopol Stainless Tube Works CJSC, service and trade companies Industrial and Commercial Enterprise Yuvis Ltd. Its shareholders are members of the Atanasov family.
Centravis Ltd. owns 100% of shares of Centravis Production Ukraine PJSC.
Stabilization of the Ukrainian energy system and a certain reserve of capacity allow discussing the opening of electricity exports to Europe, Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko said.
“The issue of opening exports is already on the table today. It is being considered,” the minister said on the air of the national telethon “Unified News” on Friday.
Depending on the volume of imports, he said, it could bring Ukraine up to $70 million a month and help restore energy facilities after Russian attacks.
At the same time, the head of the Energy Ministry stressed that Ukraine would refuse to export electricity in case of shortages.
As earlier reported, export of electric power was stopped by order of the Minister of Energy since October 11, 2022, after the beginning of massive Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system. The capacity allowed by European network of transmission system operators ENTSO-E for export is 400 MW, for import – 850 MW.
The head of Ukrhydroenergo, Igor Sirota, in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine noted that Ukraine has been experiencing a 24-hour power surplus for several weeks in a row, which would be advisable to sell. Nevertheless, he stressed that “there is a lot of politics in this issue,” as there are a number of consumers who do not receive electricity. At the same time, the head of the general company explained that such consumers are deprived of power supply not because of the resource shortage, but precisely because of low network capacity.
The Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at a meeting on Friday approved Ukraine’s request to open a new four-year extended financing program EFF for a total of SDR11.6 billion ($15.6 billion), an informed source told Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to him, the official announcement of the Fund is expected in the very near future on Friday.
According to the agenda published earlier on the Fund’s website, the board also summarized the results of the Monitoring Program for Ukraine with the involvement of the Board of Directors (PMB) opened in December.
As earlier reported, on March 21, the IMF reported reaching a staff-level agreement (SLA) on a new four-year EFF program for Ukraine worth SDR11.6 billion (about $15.6 billion). The fund specified that the final decision of the board of directors is expected in the coming weeks.
On March 24, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft Letter of Intent of the IMF and the National Bank of Ukraine and the draft Memorandum on Economic and Financial Policies. At this stage, the documents themselves are traditionally not published.
The program was supposed to be divided into two stages. The first one aims at maintaining stability, lasts 12-18 months and is based on the PMB, while the second phase, with more structural reforms, aims at growth and European integration.
Negotiations on the new EFF program were preceded by the PMB Monitoring Program. With the IMF unprepared to disburse significant funding immediately, Ukraine requested it from the Fund last fall for a period of four months and received approval from the Board of Directors on December 20.
On February 17, an IMF mission concluded in Warsaw, resulting in a statement on the SLA for early termination of the PMB program and the transition to the preparation of a new, expanded program involving financing.
