European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih PJSC (AMKR, Dnipropetrovsk oblast) with a $100mn loan to replenish its working capital.
“The loan will be used to finance the company’s working capital needs to ensure business continuity in Ukraine,” the bank said in a statement Thursday.
According to it, the bank’s board of directors approved the project at a meeting on Dec. 14.
The EBRD recalled that it provided financing to AMKR in 2017, developed a comprehensive Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) and monitored its implementation by PESM, making monitoring visits to the company in recent years.
“Overall, the company was on track for implementation and reported as required. The provision of working capital under the concept of sustainability of Ukraine will allow, among other things, to continue investment plans and implement the existing ESAP, which, in turn, will significantly improve the environment, health and safety at the site,” – pointed out the bank.
The EBRD clarified that a key aspect of the current investment program is the modernization of the sinter plant, and this investment process is ongoing, with work on the sinter lines as well as the air treatment facilities, but some investments planned for 2022-2023 have been postponed due to the ongoing war and the proximity of the front.
“ArcelorMittal Krivoy Rog is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in the production of long products, particularly rebar and wire rod, and is owned by ArcelorMittal.
On November 24 this year, after the blackout caused by Russian missile attacks on the energy infrastructure, AMKR reported about critical limitation of electricity consumption and suspension of most of the production processes. According to the company, the available amount of electricity is not enough to maintain production even at 20% of capacity.
In addition, on the night of December 5, AMKR was hit by a Russian missile strike.
The most popular search on Google in 2022 was a browser word game Wordle. In the search line the name of this game was entered more often than the words “Ukraine” or “Queen Elizabeth”.
The game was created by programmer Josh Wardle back in 2013, but it did not become popular then. In 2021, the game was redesigned, and after that it caused a furor. Just a few months later, The New York Times bought the game, and it is now playable on the newspaper’s website and mobile app. You can often see that people on the subway, for example, are often playing word composition.
Among the news topics on Google, the most popular was the situation in Ukraine. It is followed by news about Elizabeth II, who passed away on September 8. “Election results,” “Powerball number” and “Monkeypox” rounded out the top five most popular news topics.
When searching for recipes, users were most interested in Indian cuisine, particularly the dish Panir pasanda. This is a kind of curry made from paneer cheese.
Because of scandals in the world of showbiz, users often googled the names of famous people. For example, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, as well as Will Smith t Chris Rock were among the top five most searched stars on a Google search.
As for athletes, Internet visitors in 2022 most often read about tennis player Novak Djokovic.
Since the start of the full-scale war, 140-150 thousand Ukrainians have come to the UK, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK Vadym Pristayko said.
“About 200 thousand visas have been issued. Reached British shores about 140-150 thousand. This figure fluctuates: someone has to go back to Ukraine, someone settled for a longer period, children went to school. All the Ukrainians who came here received financial assistance, they are connected to free programs, to the health care system. I am sure Ukrainians feel protected. There are many opportunities for employment,” Prystayko said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center.
According to some estimates, as the ambassador noted, “already half of all adult Ukrainians who have moved here have some kind of job.
The founder of mobile izibank Anna Tihipko-Baikovska has joined the supervisory board of Dniprovagonmash (DVM, Kamenskoye, Dnipropetrovsk Region), which is controlled by her father, businessman Serhiy Tihipko, a financial and industrial group TAS.
According to the publication of the company in the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NSCM), the relevant information from the shareholder T.A.S. OVERSEAS INVESTMENT LIMITED (owns 99.9988% of share capital) on the replacement of his representative in the Supervisory Board from December 16 DVM received on Thursday.
According to the shareholder’s report, this terminated the authority of Sergei Mandra, who had been a member of the DVM JSC’s supervisory board since April 2013.
According to DVM, Tigipko-Baykovska currently holds the position of director of business development at izibank and deputy director for control of strategic assets at TAS Asset Management LLC, previously she was an advisor at TAScombank JSC. She does not own any shares of DVM JSC.
“Dneprovagonmash is one of Ukraine’s leading companies in the design and manufacture of freight cars.
In January-September 2022, it earned UAH 6.15 mln in net profit compared to a UAH 97.7 mln loss for the same period in 2021, and its net income increased 2.2 times, to UAH 849.86 mln.
The board of directors of DVM has four members and has been chaired by Serhiy Tihipko since 2005.
izibank is a fintech project created jointly with the TAS Group and launched in beta mode in the fall of 2020.
TAS Group was founded in 1998. Its business interests cover the financial sector (banking and insurance segments), industry, real estate, and venture projects.
The U.S. dollar is steadily strengthening against major world currencies in trading on Thursday, the pound is getting cheaper after the publication of the results of the Bank of England meeting.
The ICE-calculated index that shows the trend of the U.S. dollar against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and the Swedish krona) rose 0.5% in trading, while the broader WSJ Dollar Index gained 0.7%.
The pound-dollar exchange rate was down to $1.2317 by 2:35 p.m., compared with $1.2425 at the close of the previous session.
The Bank of England raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 3.5% at the end of Thursday’s meeting, as most analysts had expected. The rate was increased at the end of the ninth consecutive meeting and reached its highest value in 14 years.
The British Central Bank slowed the pace of rate hikes, with its leaders divided on the steps needed. Seven of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to raise the rate, with six, including Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, in favor of a 50bp increase, while one vote was cast for a 75bp increase. Two MPC members voted to keep the rate at 3% per annum.
The European Central Bank (ECB) will announce the results of Thursday’s meeting at 16:15 Moscow time, and at 16:45 Moscow time it will hold a press conference with President Christine Lagarde.
The ECB may also slow the pace of key rate hikes to 50bp after their increase by 75bp in October and September, experts expect. In addition, the European regulator on Thursday is to present a plan to reduce the amount of assets on its balance sheet, which reached 5 trillion euros after years of bond purchases by the Central Bank.
The euro/dollar pair is trading at $1.0619 on Thursday compared to $1.0682 at the close of the previous session.
The dollar rose to 136.56 yen, compared to 135.47 yen in previous trading.
The day before the Federal Reserve System (FRS) raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points and made it clear that it is going to continue its rise. The rate was raised to 4.25-4.5% per annum – the maximum since 2007.
The head of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell said during a news conference after the meeting that the U.S. Central Bank will stick to the course of tightening monetary policy until it returns inflation to the target level of 2%.
The Fed leaders’ median forecast is that the rate will reach 5.1% by the end of 2023 and fall to 4.1% by the end of 2024 and then to 3.1% by the end of 2025.
The dollar/yuan exchange rate rose to 6.9678 yuan on Thursday versus 6.9506 yuan the day before.
Commodities will become the most successful asset class in 2023, providing investors with returns of over 40%, analysts predicted Goldman Sachs Group.
According to their forecasts, the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Total Return Index, which takes into account the price dynamics of 24 types of commodities, will grow by 43% next year. The indicator is up 24% since the beginning of this year, while the S&P 500 stock index is down 16%.
“While individual commodity prices have nearly doubled, the amount of capex in the commodities complex as a whole is disappointing,” wrote Goldman analysts led by Jeff Curry and Samantha Dart. – “This has been a major revelation of 2022: Even extremely high prices can’t create enough capital inflows and trigger supply growth to address long-term deficits.
The price of Brent crude oil will reach $105 a barrel in the fourth quarter of next year, copper will cost $10,500 a ton, and liquefied natural gas on the spot market in Asia will rise to $53.1 per million British thermal units (BTU), Goldman forecasts.
As of Wednesday, Brent is trading near $82 a barrel, copper is at $8,400 a tonne and LNG is at $33 per 1 million BTU.
