German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock has arrived in Kyiv for the second time since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, reports the German publication Spiegel.
According to the magazine, with the trip, Burbock wanted to show “that we will continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary – with the supply of weapons, humanitarian and financial support,” she said on Saturday morning when she arrived.
“Today I went to Kyiv to show that they (Ukrainians – IF-U) can continue to rely on us,” the Foreign Minister stressed.
In Kyiv, Burbock intends to hold talks, in particular, with Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba. The rest of the program was kept secret for security reasons.
At a meeting on Saturday, the Government of Ukraine decided to attract additional financing from the World Bank in the amount of $530 million as part of a joint project with the Bank and the International Development Association (IDA) “Supporting Public Expenditure to Ensure Sustainable Public Administration in Ukraine.”
“The loan will be provided on concessional terms under the guarantees of the UK and Denmark: the loan repayment period is 19 years with a five-year grace period,” the Finance Ministry said.
According to its release, the interest rate is 0.25% per annum (charged on the unused part of the loan).
The Ministry of Finance clarified that the funds will be used to pay for the work of public sector employees, provide pension payments and certain state social assistance programs, such as payment for housing and communal services, support for low-income families, disabled children and disabled since childhood, IDPs, as well as for paying medical services under the program of medical guarantees, etc.
As reported, the project “Support to public spending to ensure sustainable public administration in Ukraine” has been implemented since June 2022. The total amount of funds raised is $7.3 billion. The goal of this project is to maintain the sustainable ability of the government of Ukraine to carry out administrative activities and provide services for the performance of core government functions at the national and regional levels.
Ukraine will consider the possibility of opening a quota for the export of 100,000 tons of coal to Poland in September, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said.
“On behalf of the President of Ukraine, at the request of the Polish side, Ukraine is ready to consider the possibility of opening quotas for coal exports to Poland. We are talking about 100,000 tons in September, which are now critically needed by our Polish partners,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
Shmyhal specified that coal reserves in the warehouses of Ukrainian power plants amount to almost 2 million tons, which is 2.5 times more than a year ago. “Therefore, we are ready to lend a shoulder of support to our Polish friends,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister of Ukraine added that during the visit of his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki to Kyiv, the parties also discussed the restoration and commissioning of the Khmelnytsky NPP-Rzeszow power line.
“We planned to finish before December 14, but thanks to the acceleration of work, we can complete a week earlier. This will allow us to export an additional 1,000 MW to Poland. For our part, we ask Poland to assist in expanding export quotas within the framework of ENTSO-E,” Shmyhal said.
According to him, Ukraine expects that by the end of 2022 the amount of available transmission capacity in the direction of Slovakia, Romania and Hungary will increase from 300 MW by another 200-300 MW, and in the direction of Poland – over 1000 MW.
As reported, since mid-June 2022, Ukraine has set zero quotas for the export of all types of coal, except for coking coal, and on September 7, it completely banned the export of Ukrainian coal.
According to the State Customs Service, Ukraine’s coal exports for seven months of 2022 amounted to 450.6 thousand tons for $145.917 million, incl. to Slovakia – by $93.349 million, Poland – by $34.084 million, Hungary – by $15.919 million, other countries – by $2.565 million.
Exports of goods in % to the previous period in 2021 and 2022
SSC of Ukraine
Since the beginning of the 2022/2023 marketing year (MY, July-June), Ukraine has exported 5.29 million tons of grain crops, including 3.17 million tons of corn (60% of total supplies), 1.65 million tons of wheat (31%) and 447 thousand tons of barley (8%).
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, since the beginning of the current marketing year, the rate of grain exports has been 1.94 times lower than the same period last year (10.29 million tons were exported from July 1 to September 9, 2021).
At the same time, according to the agency, from August 31 to September 9, 1.33 million tons of grain crops were delivered to foreign markets (147.8 thousand tons daily), while for the previous period, August 26-31 – 550 thousand tons grain crops (110 thousand tons daily), on August 19-26 – 430 thousand tons of grain crops (61.4 thousand tons daily), and on August 11-19 – 770 thousand tons (96.2 thousand tons daily ). Thus, the average daily export rates over the past nine days increased by a third compared to the previous period and reached the maximum value since the beginning of the MY.
In general, from the beginning of 2022/2023 MY and until September 9, 2022, Ukraine exported 1.65 million tons of wheat (3.6 times less compared to the same date in 2021/2022 MY), 447 thousand tons of barley (6.7 times less), 0.8 thousand tons of rye (18 times less) and 15.6 thousand tons of flour (1.7 times less). However, the pace of corn exports exceeded last year’s volumes – 3.17 million tons were exported, which is 2.37 times higher than in 2021/2022 MY.
In total, for the period August 31-September 9, 680 thousand tons of corn, 510 thousand tons of wheat, 137 thousand tons of barley, 0.3 thousand tons of rye and 3.7 thousand tons of flour were delivered to foreign markets.
As reported, in MY 2021/2022, Ukraine exported 48.51 million tons of grains and legumes, which is 8.4% higher than in the previous marketing year, despite the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and difficulties with the export of agricultural products due to the blockade of Ukrainian seaports. 18.74 million tons of wheat were delivered to foreign markets (12.6% more than in 2020/2021MY), 23.54 million tons of corn (+1.9%), 5.75 million tons of barley (+35.9%) , 70.9 thousand tons of flour (-44.1%).
In 2020/2021 MY, the country exported 44.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops: 16.64 million tons of wheat, 23.08 million tons of corn, 4.23 million tons of barley, 126.9 thousand tons of flour and 18.4 thousand . tons of rye.
In 2019/2020 MY, Ukraine exported 56.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine will look for opportunities to help Poland in the energy sector and find a way out of their future energy risks in the near future.
“Today we raised important energy issues. We discussed energy challenges. We are interested that Ukraine can help Poland. We are doing everything to find a way out of their future energy risks in the near future,” Zelensky said at a press conference with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moravetsky and Latvian President Egils Levits in Kyiv on Friday.
He also called this issue a priority in relations with Poland.
“For us, this is a priority in our relations. Despite the fact that we have a ban on the export of coal during this difficult period, we will look for an opportunity to help Poland. Because Poland, in spite of everything, found certain steps to help us, when it was not easy for her. We understand this responsibility,” the President added.
