The Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Turkey at a government meeting on Wednesday.
According to First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko, the agreement will bring an additional 2% of GDP annually.
“The basis of the agreement is the zeroing of duties by Turkey for 10,337 commodity items. This is 95% of the total number of goods. Another 1,348 commodity items will be subject to tariff quotas or duty reduction,” she said, presenting the draft FTA Agreement with Turkey at the government meeting.
Currently, Ukraine exports 1,100 commodity items to Turkey, since Turkey has one of the highest levels of customs protection in the world, she said. At the same time, the level of Ukrainian customs duties is one of the lowest.
“In recent years, we have begun to observe that Ukrainian duties have generally ceased to be a barrier to Turkish goods, while Turkish duties for our goods have been an impenetrable wall for entering their market,” Svyrydenko said.
According to her, Ukraine reserves the right to apply a duty on the export of scrap metal.
“At the same time, Turkey opens the domestic market for our metal. Duties for another 130 commodity items of metallurgy goods have been partially reduced… And additional quotas have been established for 160 metallurgy goods,” Svyrydenko said.
According to her, Ukraine will retain duties on the import of used cars, setting transitional periods of three to five years for vehicles and light industry products. As for the latter, Svyrydenko announced state support in the form of affordable loans for the modernization of equipment for Ukrainian light industry companies.
At the same time, the parties reserve the right to restore the effect of duties through the mechanism of bilateral safeguard measures.
As Svyrydenko said, the review of the agreement shall take place no later than two years later.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 02/02/22
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of February 02
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
The Ministry of Finance and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have discussed the possibility of providing a subordinated loan to Oschadbank with option to convert the loan into equity shares.
This was reported in a press release of the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday following the meeting of Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and Deputy Minister Oleksandr Kava with EBRD Managing Director, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus (EEC) Matteo Patrone.
“During the meeting, the issue of providing Oschadbank with EBRD long-term financing in the form of a subordinated loan with option to convert the loan into equity shares was raised. The parties continue to work actively to implement the sale of a stake in Oschadbank. The key issues remain the completion of the preparation procedures and the accession of Oschadbank to the households deposit guarantee system,” the ministry said.
The parties also discussed potential joint projects with the EBRD for 2022, namely the reconstruction of the Lower Dniester irrigation system.
Earlier, the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food announced the readiness of the EBRD to invest EUR 90 million for the reconstruction of the main water pumping station of the Lower Dniester irrigation system (Odesa region).
As reported, in March 2021, Ukrgasbank received a loan of EUR 30 million from IFC with option to convert the loan into equity shares. The next step for the privatization of the bank is to find a financial adviser for the bank.
