The French government has allocated technical assistance to the Ukrainian state concern Ukroboronprom in the amount of about EUR 900,000 Aivaras Abromavičius, director general of the state concern, has said.
“This is a sign of confidence in Ukraine, it is a sign of confidence in the changes that are taking place now in the Ukroboronprom concern … This is an amount close to EUR 900,000, one of the largest amounts that the French government has allocated to Ukraine,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to Abromavičius, this assistance will be used to fight corruption and raise corporate governance standards.
“France’s technical assistance will be directed in two main areas. This is, firstly, the anti-corruption area, and secondly, the improvement of corporate governance standards. In the area of anti-corruption policy, we plan to carry out a comprehensive criminalistics, so-called forensic, audit on some processes, contracts, which, unfortunately, the financial audit does not have the opportunity to reach,” he said.
He said that the forensic audit reveals hidden schemes and frauds that look like legitimate transactions, but are actually fraudulent, and there have been a lot historically in the concern.
Abromavičius stressed that the allocated funds would help build the best corporate governance standards in Ukroboronprom, according to Western standards.
“Within the project, we plan to develop new principles of corporate governance both at enterprises and at the concern itself. This is a large-scale project that requires time, which requires not only our efforts, but, as I said, the support of international partners. Branches of government will be involved, as well as Ukroboronprom partners themselves,” he added.
Abromavičius said that the French Embassy in Ukraine would choose a consultant company from the Big Four, and it will help find the best model for organizing a business.
“That is, we are starting to build a modern company,” he stressed.
According to Abromavičius, the forensic audit process should take four months.
“But, unfortunately, this information will be more for the leadership of the country, for the leadership of Ukroboronprom and for law enforcement agencies,” he said.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 13/03/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
EU4Energy has launched a project of technical assistance for Ukraine to implement EU Regulation 347/2013 for the development of energy infrastructure, according to the website of the Energy Community Secretariat.
“On March 10, EU4Energy launched a technical assistance project to assist Ukraine in the transposition of Regulation (EU) 347/2013, which aims to facilitate investments in energy infrastructure,” the report on the website of the agency reads.
“Representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection of Ukraine and Energy Community Secretariat experts discussed ways to put the new project in motion. The draft legislation will be developed with EU4Energy assistance by the end of April 2020 and is to rely on the findings of the legal analysis of the current regulatory framework of Ukraine developed by the Secretariat’s experts in 2019,” according to the document.
“The Regulation prescribes establishing a national competent authority, setting procedures for the permitting process and defining the methodology and criteria to be used for evaluating investment in electricity and gas projects and the risks incurred by them,” it says.
Ukraine in January-February 2020 increased export of poultry by 4.2%, to 66,270 tonnes, the State Customs Service has reported. According to its report, in monetary terms exports of these products decreased 7.1%, to $81.9 million.
In January-February 2020, import of poultry and offal decreased by 41.2% and amounted to 12,760 tonnes, in monetary terms by 35.1%, to $5.56 million.
In addition, according to the agency, pork exports in January-February 2020 amounted to 364 tonnes, which is 3.2 times more than in January-February 2019. These products were delivered for a total of $1.07 million (4.6 times more).
Pork imports to Ukraine January 2020 decreased by 54.6%, to 1,970 tonnes. Pork was imported to the country for $3.93 million, which is 50% less than the figure for January-February 2019.
As reported, Ukraine in 2019 increased export of poultry by 26%, to 414,490 tonnes. Import of poultry and offal increased by 0.6% and amounted to 131,180 tonnes. Pork exports in 2019 amounted to 2,260 tonnes, which is 28.6% more than in 2018. Pork imports to Ukraine last year decreased by 18.8%, to 23,190 tonnes.
The banking system is super liquid, its liquidity reaches UAH 200 billion in the hryvnia and $9 billion in foreign currency, Oleg Churiy, the deputy governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), has said. “The banking system today is super liquid. In general, liquidity reaches UAH 200 billion in the national currency and $9 billion in foreign currency. This is enough to satisfy the demand. For example, the demand for withdrawing deposits, if any,” Churiy said at a press briefing in Kyiv.
“We have instruments to support this liquidity,” the banker added.
“We do not see any changes in the banks’ deposit portfolios. Even if such processes begin, we will support the banks with liquidity, which will be operated by commercial banks,” he added.
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of March 12
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
