The share of cashless payments in Ukraine in January-June 2020 increased by 5.7 percentage points, to 55.1%, and the total number of cashless transactions rose by 4.1 percentage points, to 86.1% (3.36 billion) year-over-year, according to the website of the National Bank Ukraine (NBU).
According to the NBU, the total number of transactions (non-cash and cash withdrawals) using payment cards issued by Ukrainian banks in H1 2020 increased 16.6% (year-over-year), to 2.743 billion, and their amount – by 7% (year-over-year), to UAH 1.784 trillion.
At the same time, in H1 2020, the number of cash withdrawal operations decreased 12%, and the amount – by 5.0% (year-over-year), according to the NBU data.
“In January-June 2020, as before, the largest number of transactions using cards were payments in retail chains – 49.5%, transfers from card to card dominated in terms of amount – 42.3% (the average check of one such operation was UAH 1,420),” the press service said.
According to the report, as of July 1, 2020, the number of payment cards in Ukraine amounted to 71.7 million, which is 4.9% more than at the beginning of the year.
During June, 36.4 million payment cards (50.7% of all payment cards) were used for debit transactions (non-cash and cash withdrawals), a third of them (33.9%) were contactless and tokenized cards.
The number of contactless cards used in June increased 25.6%, to 9.6 million compared to January 2020, and tokenized ones rose by 22.5%, to 2.7 million.
According to the central bank, over the year the network of contactless merchant ATMs expanded by 33.5%, to 292,000, and the number of POS-terminals – by 11.2%, up to 340,600.
The ability to make contactless payments is provided by 84.3% of POS-terminals, while last year this figure was 86%, the NBU said.
As of July 1, 2020, the ratio of the total number of ATMs (contact and contactless) and the resident population was 8,500 per 1 million people, while last year this figure was 8,000 per 1 million people.
According to the NBU, the regional distribution of the ATM network, as before, remains uneven: Kyiv city, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkov regions are in the lead in the number of payment cards and payment devices. At the same time, the smallest number of payment devices is observed in the west of the country, in Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
As of July 1, 2020, 70 participants of card payment systems were working in Ukraine.
Ukraine since the beginning of the new 2020/2021 marketing year (MY, July-June) and as of August 7, 2020 had exported 3.24 million tonnes of grains and legumes, which is 1.2 million tonnes less than on this date in the past MY.
According to the information and analytical portal of the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex, 1.67 million tonnes of wheat, 1.07 million tonnes of barley and 498,000 tonnes of corn have been exported to date.
As of August 7 of this year, 21,800 tonnes of flour had been also exported.
As reported, Ukraine exported a record 57.2 million tonnes of grain, legumes and flour in the 2019/2020 MY, which is 13.5% more than in the previous MY.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 07/08/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of August 07
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
The Ukrainian airline SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) will launch flights between Kyiv and Istanbul, Turkey, from September 25.
The company’s press service said on Thursday evening that Kyiv-Istanbul-Kyiv flights will be carried out on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
One-way ticket without luggage will cost UAH 1,600.
According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the following documents are required for trips to Turkey: foreign passport or Ukrainian ID card, medical insurance certificate that covers the cost of coronavirus (COVID-19) treatment in the territory of Turkey.
In addition, medical examination for COVID-19 will be carried out at the checkpoints. If the symptoms of the disease are detected, free PCR testing will be carried out.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has ordered relevant officials to check and report on the ammonium nitrate storage conditions in Ukraine by September 15, 2020.
“Carry out extraordinary measures for government supervision over observation of the legislation in the spheres of work safety, security against manmade disasters and fires by the economic entities that store ammonium nitrate in bulk for its use at any enterprises, as well as use it for the production of calcium nitrate, compound and liquid fertilizers,” the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine said.
The prime minister issued this instruction for Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy, Head of the State Emergency Service Mykola Chechotkin, Acting Head of the State Labor Service Vitaliy Sazhyenko, Chief of the National Police Ihor Klymenko and the heads of the regional governments and Kyiv City State Administration.
