The amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ukraine in the form of share capital as of December 31, 2019 amounted to $35.81 billion, which is $2.9 billion, or 8.8% more than at the beginning of the year, the State Statistics Service has said.
According to its data, investment inflow last year amounted to $2.53 billion, withdrawal some $1.28 million, and also the increase was provided by the exchange rate difference due to the strengthening of the hryvnia at $950 million.
As reported, in the first quarter of 2019, FDI in Ukraine increased by $45.5 million. Their revenues amounted to $590 million, withdrawal some $500 million, and the contribution of the exchange rate difference amounted to $60 million.
In the first half of the year, FDI growth amounted to $840 million: investment inflow to $1.26 billion, withdrawal to $730 million with a foreign exchange contribution of $520 million.
In January-October 2019 FDI grew by $1.82 billion: investment inflow was $1.67 billion, withdrawal – $980,000 and the exchange rate difference – $1.14 billion.
A significant increase in FDI in the fourth quarter is associated with the transaction on the purchase of telecommunications business in Ukraine by Azerbaijan’s Bakcell from the MTS. The purchase transaction for Vodafone Ukraine was closed at the end of December 2019 with funding from J.P. Morgan and RBI, the price was $734 million, including deferred payment of about $84 million.
As reported, in 2018, FDI growth in Ukraine amounted to $1.3 billion, a year earlier it was $0.38 billion.
According to the State Statistics Service, the largest increase in FDI in 2019 was recorded from the Netherlands: by $1.183 billion (up to $ 8.3 billion), as well as Cyprus – $824.4 million (to $10.37 billion), Russia – $185.5 million (to $0.78 billion), Switzerland – $162.4 million (to $1.71 billion) and Germany – $141.7 million (to $1.84 billion).
At the same time, there was a sharp decrease in investments from Hungary – by $184.4 million (to $0.38 billion) and the UK – by $70.6 million (to $2.04 billion).
By industry, the largest increase in FDI was recorded in financial and insurance activities – $916.5 million, information and telecommunications – $738.5 million, mining and processing industries – respectively $283.8 million and $271.7 million, real estate operations – $237.5 million, electricity and gas supplies – $216.8 million, in wholesale and retail trade – $182.3 million, as well as in professional, scientific and technical activities – $126.1 million.
At the same time, in the area of administrative and support services, FDI decreased by $264.2 million.
The State Statistics Service also said that it stops calculating FDI, and now the National Bank of Ukraine will deal with this exclusively.
Odesa seaport handled 4.26 million tonnes of cargo in January and February 2020, which is 7.31% more than in the same period in 2019.
According to the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, for the specified period, the port increased the transshipment of exported cargo by 9.86% compared to January and February 2019, to 3.316 million tonnes, the transshipment of imported cargo by 4.04%, to 743,000 tonnes, reduced transshipment of cabotage goods by 14.4%, to 200,850 tonnes. The transshipment of transit cargo decreased by 52.5%, to 1,830 tonnes.
Transshipment of liquid cargo in Odesa seaport in January and February decreased by 37.21%, to 184,330 tonnes, dry and bulk cargo by 1.03%, to 1.643 million tonnes, and piece-by-piece increased by 20.56%, to 2.443 million tonnes.
Processing of containers for the period amounted to 109,244 TEU (an increase of 21.56% compared to the same period in 2019).
As reported, in 2019, the seaport handled 25.344 million tonnes of cargo, which is 16.8% more than in 2018.
The port serves ships up to 270 meters long and a draft of up to 13 meters. The total length of the mooring line is more than 8 km.
Odesa seaport is located in the southwestern part of Odesa Bay on an artificially created area of 109.5 hectares.
The port serves ships up to 270 meters long with a draft of up to 13 meters. The total length of the mooring line is more than 8 km.
The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) will announce an auction for the sale of the Dnipro Hotel located downtown Kyiv in April 2020, Head of the SPF Dmytro Sennychenko said on Facebook on Thursday, March 12. According to Sennychenko, the SPF, together with the new hotel management, are carrying out financial and technical audit at the facility.
“We have intensified preparations for the auction, that will allow us to start the auction in April and find a new owner for the hotel in May,” he reported.
The SPF head said, the net financial result of the Dnipro Hotel amounted to UAH 146,000 in the end of 2019.
As reported, the starting price of the hotel will be $10 million.
Earlier, the SPF appointed Elina Sapozhkova as the new director of the Dnipro Hotel.
In China, the loading of another plane with medical supplies designed to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Ukraine has been completed, the Ukraine’s Embassy in China said.
“Today, on April 2, at the international airport in Xiamen (Fujian province), the loading of another plane with medical supplies for Ukraine has been completed. About 109 m3 of medical protective equipment for Ukrainian citizens were loaded on board the aircraft,” the Ukrainian Embassy in China said on Facebook on Thursday.
In addition, the preparation of several more aircraft with a similar mission is currently being agreed with the PRC authorities.
Ukrainian diplomats explained that the flight is carried out within the framework of an air bridge between Ukraine and China, which was built with the aim of delivering the most necessary medical supplies to Ukraine as quickly as possible to counter the spread of COVID-19.
The Embassy also provides support for this campaign in the PRC in cooperation with the Coordination Council on countering the spread of COVID-19 under the President of Ukraine and the Consulate General of Ukraine in Shanghai. The Ukrainian participants of the campaign are assisted in communication with Chinese partners.
PJSC Donbasenergo plans to increase the consumption of Ukrainian coal at Sloviansk thermal power plant (TPP) from 55% to 70%, Donbasenergo Board Chairman, CEO Eduard Bondarenko has said.
“To date, we use 55% of grade G domestic coal at Sloviansk TPP, the rest is imported anthracite. However, we are working to increase the burning of Ukrainian coal at Sloviansk TPP to 70%,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the CEO of Donbasenergo, the company has been actively working over the past few years to reduce the dependence of Sloviansk TPP on imported anthracite, but cannot switch to grade G domestic coal completely due to the design specifics of the plant.
“There is a separate dust factory on the territory of Sloviansk TPP, which delivers coal dust to the boilers through pipes. At other plants, coal dust is produced directly under the boilers, and here it is almost one kilometer of distance. The gas group of coal is unsafe and it is hard to completely switch to grade G. This requires a long closure of the plant and a very large investment that will never recover the costs. This is confirmed by all design institutes, both national and foreign, which we turned to for examination,” Bondarenko said.
In addition, the project for the construction of a new sixth unit at Sloviansk TPP is based on the circulating fluidized layer technology, which will allow the burning of low-grade and low-calorie grade G coal, as well as waste coal without natural gas.
“This coal is available to us in the territory of Donbas controlled by Ukraine,” the CEO of Donbasenergo said.
According to him, in the case of obtaining a government guarantee and involving financing from the Bank of China, the construction of the sixth power unit with a total capacity of 600 MW will take 48 months. The commissioning of power unit No. 6 A is planned in 43 months, and power unit No. 6 B in another five months.
Donbasenergo owns Starobesheve (located in the occupied territory) and Sloviansk TPPs with the total installed capacity of 2,880 MW, in particular the capacity of Sloviansk TPP is 880 MW. At the end of March 2017, the generation company announced the loss of control over Starobesheve TPP, as well as part of structural units located in the temporarily government uncontrolled territory.
PJSC Energoinvest Holding owns 60.86% of the shares of Donbasenergo, another 25% of the shares of the generating company are owned by the state. Currently, Maksym Efimov is the head of the company.
The Ukrainian SkyUp Airlines company (Kyiv) does not plan on April 3 to carry out special flights to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from abroad.
“On April 3, we will not operate flights,” the airline’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
Earlier, head of the Ukrainian Hospitality Industry Association Oleksandr Liyev said that the Ukrainian airline on Friday, April 3, would carry out six special flights to evacuate Ukrainians home, but he did not specify the name of the carrier.
In turn, a source on the market told Interfax-Ukraine that the Ukrainian company SkyUp would be the carrier of the flights announced by Liyev.
