The European Investment Bank and Pravex Bank have signed a EUR30 million loan agreement to expand access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and mid-cap companies in Ukraine, a joint release said.
According to it, the loan is part of the efforts of the European Union initiative Team Europe to respond to the consequences of the coronavirus crisis.
“Cooperation with the EIB constitutes an important step in helping our bank reach its strategic goal to expand financing of small and medium enterprises, as well as mid-caps. This credit line will help us support our clients from the real economy, providing them with the affordable loans they need in order to mitigate the economic consequences of the pandemic crisis they have faced,” chairman of the management board of Pravex Bank Gianluca Corrias said.
Pravex Bank was founded in 1992. Its sole shareholder at the beginning of 2020 was Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. (Italy).
According to the National Bank, as of September 1, 2020, in terms of total assets (UAH 6.539 billion), Pravex Bank ranked 26th among 75 banks operating in the country.
Internal and external debt of Ukraine in 2009-2020.
SSC of Ukraine
During the Ukrainian-Moldovan political consultations, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar and State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova Dumitru Sokolan discussed the status of implementation of the agreements reached during the visit of President of Moldova Maia Sandu to Kyiv in January 2021.
“The parties ‘synchronized watches’ regarding the nearest political contacts at the highest and high levels. Vasyl Bodnar informed about the preparations for the inaugural summit of the Crimean platform and the celebrations on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Ukraine’s independence on August 23-24,” the statement on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website said on Thursday, March 25.
It is reported that considerable attention was paid to the implementation of cross-border infrastructure projects, primarily the construction of a bridge across the river Dniester in the area of Yampil-Koseuts settlements, the parties positively noted the progress in this case.
“Bodnar and Sokolan emphasized the importance of an early resumption of negotiations between the authorized authorities in order to resolve the entire range of issues related to the functioning of the Dniester hydroelectric complex, as well as to complete the process of demarcation of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The parties checked their positions on expanding the legal framework between the two states in various fields.
A separate topic of the consultations was regional security issues, in particular the threats associated with the presence of Russian military units in the Transnistrian region of Moldova.
The Deputy Minister said that Ukraine is determined to continue supporting territorial integrity and sovereignty of Moldova within the internationally recognized borders, as well as to be an active participant in the negotiation process on the Transnistrian settlement.
“We regard the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of the Transnistrian region of Moldova as a matter of national and regional security,” the ministry’s press service quoted Bodnar as saying.
The parties discussed steps to strengthen bilateral trade and economic cooperation and implement energy projects.
In addition, it is reported that in context of humanitarian cooperation development, Bodnar asked to accelerate the ratification by the Moldovan side of the agreement signed on December 17, 2009 between Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova on cooperation in ensuring the rights of persons belonging to national minorities (Ukraine ratified it on October 5, 2010).
The parties discussed ways to deepen cooperation with the EU in context of implementation of the two countries’ course towards European integration. The diplomats also exchanged views on the efforts of the governments of Ukraine and Moldova to counter the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Gas supply company Naftogaz Ukrainy in April will keep the price of natural gas for household consumers (population) at the current level of UAH 6.86 per cubic meter, and the price of gas within the supplier of “last resort” for the next month will also remain at the March level of UAH 6.99 per cubic meter.
“We are going to offer our clients the same price in April as they had in March. And thus we end the heating season with a stable price,” he said on the air of Channel 5 on Wednesday evening.
At the same time, Kobolev did not say what fixed price the group is ready to offer under an annual contract, which will begin on May 1, 2021, to both the population and wholesale buyers.
“This price has not been determined yet. We have signed the first big contract [with Dmytro Firtash’s Ye Energiya LLC], which contains a pricing formula. The price will be known for sure on April 25 this year,” said the head of Naftogaz.
Kobolev also said that the group’s market share increased by 11 p.p. – up to 13% from August 2020 to the present day.
The first batch of 1.915 million doses of CoronaVac vaccine against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, produced by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech, was sent to Ukraine on Thursday, March 25, according to the website of the Ukrainian Embassy in China.
“The inactivated vaccine, which was registered by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on March 10, has passed all stages of clinical trials that officially confirmed its effectiveness and safety.
Currently, the vaccine has been successfully used to protect the population in China, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries,” the message said.
Ukrainian YouTube channels in 2020 have grown in terms of audience and views, head of the YouTube partner program in Central and Eastern Europe Javid Aslanov said during an online conference on Wednesday, March 24.
According to him, over the past year, the number of Ukrainian channels with 100,000 subscribers and more has increased by 35%, and channels with 1 million subscribers and more – by 45%. On average, a Ukrainian user spends on YouTube more than 55 minutes every day.
According to YouTube, the main markets for Ukrainian creators on the platform are India, Indonesia, Brazil, the United States, the Middle East, and the EU.
Also, according to YouTube statistics, over the past three months, more than 1 billion users around the world have watched the channels of Ukrainian authors.
Among the most popular languages (in addition to Ukrainian and Russian), in which Ukrainian creators run their channels, are English, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic, as well as Portuguese, Indonesian and Vietnamese (in abbreviated order).
In Ukrainian segment of YouTube during the pandemic, quite unique trends arose: in December 2020, educational content (physics, mathematics and chemistry) in Ukraine was watched 50% more actively than a year before.
Viewers’ interest in local travel content has significantly increased – videos about hiking and rafting have grown in views by more than 80%.
“One of the most interesting trends in Ukrainian YouTube during the pandemic was the content on fish farming – the viewing time of the corresponding videos increased by 50% in December 2020 compared to December 2019,” the project’s presentation said.
In general, in Ukraine in 2020, daily views of home workout videos increased by 70,6%, videos with meditations increased in views – by 35%, and views of culinary channels increased by 45%.
In addition, the time of watching live streams on YouTube worldwide has grown ten times in three years, and viewers watch live streams on average four times longer than regular videos.
