Africa will be in the limelight of the renewed Council of Exporters and Investors under the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine, said Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba adding that development of cooperation with the African states was one of the priorities of the foreign policy of Ukraine. “Only few days ago, we launched the Council of Exporters and Investors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It now unites 120 leading Ukrainian export-oriented companies. The purpose of this agency is to simplify trade and investment between nations, and Africa will be in the limelight of this Council,” he said in a video address on the occasion of Africa Day posted on ministry’s Twitter on Monday.
Kuleba said that Ukrainian companies were already exporting grain, drinks, meat, equipment and machinery to the African countries. “The IT sector is one of the most promising in our relations,” the minister added.
He emphasized that one of the priorities of Ukraine’s foreign policy was the development of cooperation with the African states.
“Good relations between us symbolize the great prospects of our cooperation and will lead our nations to prosperity and a better life,” he explained.
According to Kuleba, now 20,000 students from Africa are studying in Ukraine, and Ukraine will be glad to see more of them.
“I’m glad that more and more Africans are choosing Ukraine for higher education. Currently, 20,000 students from the African countries are studying in our country, and we welcome more,” said the foreign minister.
The total number of transactions (noncash and cash) using payment cards issued by Ukrainian banks amounted to 1.385 billion units, and their amount was UAH 920.5 billion in January-March 2020, which is 24.5% and 15.6%, respectively, more than in the same period of 2019, according to the data of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), released on its website on Thursday, May 21.
According to the data, noncash transactions prevailed in both quantity and amount, for example, Ukrainians carried out 1.183 billion noncash transactions (85.4% of the total) for a total of UAH 503 billion (54.6% of the total).
The regulator said that in the first quarter, the largest number of transactions using cards accounted for settlements in retail chains, namely 50.3%, however, person-to-person transfers prevailed by the amount of 41.3%, the average size of which was UAH 1,505.
The NBU said that the total number of issued payment cards in Ukraine as of April 1, 2020 reached 68.6 million. However, in March all expenditure transactions were carried out using 53.4% of all payment cards, in February with use of 53%, in January with use of 53.2% payment cards.
The regulator said that from January, banks began to report to the NBU monthly, whereas earlier they did it on a quarterly basis, and therefore, active payment cards were also calculated every month, however, comparison with last years’ indicators became impossible.
According to the NBU, a third, or 11.3 million of payment cards that were used for expenses in March were either contactless or tokenized.
Thus, in March 8.9 million contactless payment cards and almost 2.5 million tokenized ones were used for transactions, which is 16% and 11.2% more than in January 2020.
The regulator said that nine out of ten (90.2%) of trading POS terminals provide contactless payment, whereas eight out of ten were contactless in 2019. When compared with the beginning of 2020, there is a 0.7% decrease in the number of working trading POS terminals due to lockdown restrictions introduced in March.
According to the NBU, the number of payment terminals in the trading network per one million of permanent residents as of April 1, 2020 amounted to 8,300.
“The regional distribution of the terminal network in Ukraine is quite irregular. The smallest number of payment devices per an inhabitant is observed in the west of the country and in Luhansk and Donetsk regions,” the regulator said, adding that Kyiv city and Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions prevail in the number of payment cards and payment devices.
Thus, as of April 1, 2020, some 70 participants of card payment systems were registered in Ukraine.
Ratio of fertility and mortality by region as of January-February, 2020
The mobile operator Vodafone Ukraine in the first quarter of 2020 reached an income indicator of UAH 4.39 billion, which is 28% more than in the same period in 2019.
According to a press release, the operator’s OIBDA (operating income before depreciation of fixed assets and intangible assets) increased by 30% compared to the first quarter of 2019 and reached UAH 2.3 billion. OIBDA margin increased to 53.3%.
“In the first quarter, Vodafone Ukraine’s net loss amounted to UAH 744 million, which is connected with the exchange rate difference on the revaluation of eurobonds of $500 million issued by the company in February 2020 – the hryvnia devaluation at the end of the quarter compared to the rate on the date of receiving the loan amounted to 15%,” the company reports.
The mobile operator notes that, on average, according to the results of the first quarter, the Vodafone Ukraine data client used 4.6 GB of traffic per month. The growth in consumption became possible thanks to the active expansion of coverage of high-speed Internet networks.
Currently, according to the company, Vodafone’s 4G network is available to 71% of Ukrainians, 86% of the population can use 3G coverage. Over the year, the number of 4G base stations doubled, and the number of settlements with 4G network access tripled.
The company invested UAH 1.2 billion in the network in January-March of this year, including UAH 265 million of license cost in the 900 MHz band. The company’s total investment in the construction of high-speed mobile Internet networks amounted to UAH 26.6 billion.
State-owned PrivatBank (Kyiv) plans to receive UAH 17.5 billion in net profit in 2020, which is 47.4% less than in 2019 (UAH 32.6 billion), the financial institution said in its annual statements on the website on Thursday, May 21.
“The management monitors the current situation with the spread of coronavirus [COVID-19] and lockdown and takes measures, if necessary, to minimize any negative consequences as far as possible. Further negative developments and macroeconomic conditions can affect the financial situation and performance of the bank in such a way, which cannot be determined yet,” the bank said in the document.
The bank said in the financial statements that the objectives of PrivatBank for 2021 are the following: to achieve profitability indicator in accordance with its business strategy and to maintain a leading position in the Ukrainian banking market.
However, the bank’s analysts expect that the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, will lead to a recession in the global economy and a significant slowdown in economic activity in the country.
They believe that the introduction of lockdown restrictions by the government in March, combined with a significant reduction in global demand and an overestimation of the risks of developing countries by investors, may affect the performance of Ukraine’s economy and foreign trade, as well as complicate fundraising, affect the country’s banking system and lead to further devaluation of the national currency.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar and Turkish Ambassador to Ukraine Yagmur Guldere have agreed to start negotiations on resuming air travel and tourist trips between the two countries, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine reports.
“Following the meeting, it was agreed to begin procedures related to the restoration of air service between Ukraine and Turkey, as well as the negotiation process between the competent authorities of the two countries regarding tourist trips,” the Foreign Ministry said.
It is noted that Bodnar and Guldere paid special attention to the implementation of the agreements reached during the official visit of Turkish President Recep Erdogan to Ukraine on February 3, 2020, in particular large-scale infrastructure projects in Ukraine and housing construction in Kherson region for internally displaced persons who left the territory of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
The diplomats also agreed to intensify the existing consultative mechanisms at the level of the Foreign Ministry and other relevant ministries and departments of Ukraine and Turkey, to ensure proper preparation and holding the next meeting of the Joint Economic Commission, and to begin planning the exchange of visits for the period after the removal of quarantine.
