The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has renamed the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports into the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy. Also, by resolution No. 231 of March 23, the government amended acts that related to the activities of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, replacing the name of the department with the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.
In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers abolished all the functions of this ministry, which related to youth and sports.
As reported, on March 4, the Verkhovna Rada supported the appointment of Vadym Gutzeit as Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
The little-known French company SAS Investcompagnie (Paris) plans to acquire Agrikor Holding LLC (Chernihiv region), Agroprime Holding LLC (Izmail) and Agrovit LLC (Cherkasy region), which were part of the agrarian holding Agrain, which curtailed activities in Ukraine in 2016.
According to the published agenda of the meeting of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, the committee can grant SAS Investcompagnie permission to acquire shares in the charter capital of three agricultural enterprises, which will ensure exceeding 50% of the votes in the management bodies of the companies.
According to the French register, SAS Investcompagnie was created in April 2018 with a registered capital of EUR 250,000 0. Its president is Anna Rubtsova.
According to the unified public register of legal entities and private entrepreneurs, the ultimate beneficiary of Agrikor Holding is Vitaliy Kuznetsov, Agroprime Holding is Oleksandr Riasnenko, and Agrovit is Hanna Harifulina.
Agroholding Agrain, before ceasing operations in 2016, was one of the largest in Ukraine, its land bank amounted to about 130,000 hectares. The company had silo storage capacities in the amount of 330,000 tonnes of crops, and was also engaged in dairy and beef cattle breeding.
In 2014, Agrain agricultural holding announced an attempt to seize the company’s head office by unknown persons, after which a number of court proceedings were opened against the top management, and arrests were imposed on the property of the agricultural holding.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba during a telephone conversation with Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu have agreed on the protection of Ukrainian citizens in Romania during traffic restrictions and uninterrupted transit of Ukrainian goods through Romanian territory, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said. “I appeal to you in every possible way to support the citizens of Ukraine who are in Romania at a time when the transport links were practically closed, and I confirm that you can count on our appropriate attitude towards the citizens of Romania in Ukraine during this difficult period,” the press service said on Wednesday, quoting Kuleba.
Aurescu confirmed that Romania has always supported the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as Ukraine’s integration into the EU and NATO. He also assured Ukraine of Romania’s support in international institutions and organizations, of which Romania is a member.
In addition, Kuleba drew the attention of the Romanian foreign minister to the inadmissibility of Russia’s attempts to ease sanctions against the backdrop of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic.
“I would also like to draw your attention to the calls of Russia to ease sanctions under the pretext of a COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying economic instability in the world. These calls are inappropriate and unacceptable. It is very important that no one can use the current difficult situation to achieve political goals. The sanctions were introduced over the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and the COVID-19 pandemic has nothing to do with them,” the Ukrainian minister said.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Aurescu assured Kuleba that he agrees with this approach to the issue of keeping sanctions against the Russian Federation. He also invited the Foreign Minister of Ukraine to pay a visit to Romania.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 26/03/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of March 26
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Non-bank financial institutions signed financial leasing agreements for around UAH 26.3 billion in 2019, which is 18.3% or UAH 4 billion more than in 2018, a member of the National Commission for Financial Service Markets of Ukraine Oleksandr Zaletov has told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, over the year the number of concluded financial leasing agreements increased 50%, or by 5,200 documents, and amounted to about 15,500 agreements.
According to Zaletov, a significant increase in financial leasing was mainly thanks to increased financing of these operations through bank loans, funds from international financial institutions and the issuance of debt securities by lessors. In particular, the volume of attracted loans at the end of 2019 amounted to UAH 5.8 billion, which is 20%, or UAH 962 million, more than in the previous year. The corporate bond issue amounted to UAH 254 million (70.9%, or UAH 105 million more). Funds of international financial institutions invested in the financial leasing market amounted to UAH 496 million.
Zaletov named deregulation in this market as another factor in the growth of financial leasing, which contributed to the influx of capital, including foreign one. So, according to the decisions of the National Commission, not only financial institutions, but also other licensed legal entities can be involved in financial leasing transactions.
As of the end of 2019, there were 439 financial institutions in Ukraine authorized to provide financial services. They account for 6.1% of the volume of this market. The remaining 93.9% are 113 legal entities that are not financial institutions, but have received a license to provide financial services. At the same time, share of the 20 largest legal entities-lessors is 93.4%. The largest growth in the provision of financial leasing services by legal entities-lessors in 2019 was in the following categories: natural persons – 149.7%, individual entrepreneurs – 61.4%, and legal entities – 16%.
