A Memorandum of Cooperation between the Kharkiv City Council and the Turkish bus manufacturing company Karsan was signed in Kharkiv during the international forum Municipal Infrastructure: Urban Development and Comfort.
The press service of the Kharkiv City Council said, citing Secretary Ihor Terekhov, that it is planned to purchase about 500 Turkish-made buses within several years. This will become the basis for the creation of municipal bus public transport, as well as to start joint production of buses in Kharkiv.
“We have agreed with our Turkish partners that these buses will be assembled in our city. For this we will create about 300 jobs. Turkish investors will decide on the basis of which enterprise this will take place. But negotiations with local business are already underway. For Kharkiv this is an economically viable project,” the press service said, citing Terekhov.
According to him, about 150 buses of different classes (8-meter buses for rush hour traffic and 6-meter buses for transportation when traffic is less) are planned to be purchased by the end of the year. These are low-floor buses with hufter-proof coating.
The volume of mortgage lending in February 2021 amounted to UAH 457.9 million, which is 40% more than in January and 81% more than in February 2020, according to the results of a survey of banks conducted by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to the report, 617 mortgage loans were issued in February, which is 39% more than a month earlier and 35% more than in the same period last year.
According to the survey, almost 89% of mortgage agreements in the amount of UAH 380 million in February were drawn up with five banks, which indicates the concentration of the mortgage lending market.
The NBU noted that in February, the volume of issuance for the purchase of primary real estate increased by 13% or UAH 7.7 million, to UAH 66.9 million, and on the secondary market – by 47% or UAH 124.2 million, to UAH 388.45 million.
According to the survey results, the secondary market continues to dominate significantly in terms of the number and volume of lending, in particular, the share of mortgage agreements for the purchase of housing in the secondary market in February amounted to about 85% in terms of all new loans.
In the reporting period, the average effective rate of mortgage loans in the secondary market was 13.9% (in January – 13.8%), and in the primary market – 17.1% (in January -15.9%). A noticeable increase in the cost of loans in the primary market in February was due to an increase in the share of new loans in the market of one of the banks active in mortgage lending, which offers borrowers a relatively high effective interest rate, the regulator explained.
According to the NBU, in a regional context, most mortgage loans in February were issued in Kyiv – 171 agreements totaling UAH 177 million (39% of the total), in Kyiv region – 84 agreements totaling UAH 78.5 million (17%), in Kharkiv region – 76 contracts for a total amount of almost 43 million UAH (9%), in Lviv region – 36 contracts for a total amount of UAH 28.3 million and in Dnipropetrovsk region – 45 contracts for a total amount of UAH 24.2 million.
The loan portfolio of entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) of state-owned Ukrgasbank (Kyiv) in the first quarter of 2021 increased by UAH 1.4 billion, or by 17.5%, to UAH 8 billion, the bank’s press service said on Thursday.
According to the report, the increase in the portfolio is due to the active participation of the bank in the state program Affordable Loans 5-7-9%” and new business lending programs. In particular, as of early April, Ukrgasbank’s portfolio of affordable loans is UAH 2 billion, including UAH 1.2 billion of loans for investment purposes.
The press service said that in the first week of April, the bank increased its portfolio of energy efficiency (warm) loans by UAH 14.6 million, or 7.3%, to UAH 200 million. At the same time, the number of such loans increased by 371, or by 2.8%, to 13,310.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2021, Ukrgasbank in terms of total assets (UAH 151.403 billion) ranked fourth among 73 banks operating in the country.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) is investigating the formation of prices in the transportation market due to a sharp price rise for the services of the main players in the taxi market on the first day of lockdown, Head of the Northern Territorial Branch of the AMCU Oleksiy Khmelnytsky said on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
He said that on the first day of lockdown, the prices for taxi services of the three largest organizers of transportation via mobile applications simultaneously increased by 3-4 times, which is unacceptable.
“Already in the evening of April 6, taxi prices fell noticeably. It should be noted that the demand did not decrease [there were no less trips, the demand was constant] and lockdown was not canceled. This is the reaction of these companies to the indignation of Kyiv residents, the media and the AMCU’s reaction. I am convinced that companies can adjust prices on their own, not only automatically, given the critical situation with COVID-19 in Kyiv. Could there be any signs of violation of competition laws [on coordination of actions]? In my opinion, yes,” Khmelnytsky said.
He also said that the AMCU should definitely respond to a large number of appeals from Kyiv residents.
“We cannot ignore citizens’ appeals; that is why we launched our probe. This is the law […] In fact; the situation on the transport market [whatever you call it, for people it is taxi services] has not been studied by anyone. That is why we started the study. We will draw conclusions based on its findings,” he said.
At the same time, Khmelnytsky noted that the AMCU perfectly understands all the specifics of the work of programs and applications, which are rather difficult to control.
According to him, if, based on the findings of the study, the AMCU does not receive evidence of anticompetitive concerted actions of the largest market players, the committee will definitely inform about it.
“If we get evidence of a violation of competition legislation, we will open a case, make a decision and fine the violators. If it turns out that the legislation and rules do not correspond to modern technologies, we will turn to legislators with a proposal,” the head of the AMCU Northern Territorial Branch said.
As reported, on April 5, taking into account the imposition of strict quarantine, prices for taxi services, in particular in Kyiv, increased several times.
Bolt taxi ordering service (formerly Taxify) has decided to forcefully adjust the coefficient that affects the increase in cost during the period of increased demand.
Taxi ordering services Uklon and Uber told Interfax-Ukraine that their pricing systems depend on many factors, automatically taking into account the situation on the roads, weather conditions, demand and others.
ANTIMONOPOLY COMMITTEE, LOCKDOWN, TAXI, TAXI MARKET, TRANSPORT
The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine has put up for auction on May 7 with an initial price of UAH 187.64 million a single property complex of the state-owned enterprise Dunaivtsi grain processing factory (Dunaivtsi village, Khmelnytsky region), which will become the first privatized state asset in the grain processing industry, the fund said on its website on Wednesday.
According to the fund, earlier, such plants were one of the key links in the agricultural monopoly controlled by the state, but with the transition to a free market, this asset became non-core for the state.
The SPF noted that most of the plants cannot be called successful, but these assets have excellent investment potential, since they were created as production sites in profitable locations and with a developed logistics infrastructure. The enterprises have powerful elevators and access to railways, as well as developed capacities for storage or transshipment of products.
The fund said that the privatization of grain processing factories is beneficial for all participants in the process: the state fills the budget and receives a revival of economic activity, investors – assets important for business development, and local communities – jobs and development of territories.
Dunaivtsi grain processing factory is engaged in the production of products of the flour and cereal industry and feed for animals kept on farms, wholesale trade in grain, unprocessed tobacco, seeds and animal feed.
The fund noted that the asset consists of buildings and structures with a total area of 79,800 square meters, including an administrative building, a canteen, bakeries, elevators, a mill, a laboratory, warehouses, workshops, garages and other outbuildings. The total area of the enterprise’s land plots is 67.3 hectares, on which there is the necessary technological equipment and communications: water supply, electricity, sewerage and access roads.
The plant in 2020 reduced its net profit by 14.2% compared to 2019, to UAH 2.26 million, its assets increased 2.4 times, to UAH 193.66 million, and total accounts receivable decreased by 16.9%, to UAH 20.24 million.
Due to a shortage of working capital caused by pressure from law enforcement agencies, the agricultural holding Ukrlandfarming has reduced the livestock population from 52,000 to 15,700, the owner of the agricultural holding Oleh Bakhmatiuk has said.
“It also requires working capital, which, unfortunately, we do not have, because credit lines are being closed. Let’s be reasonable, it is unlikely that animal husbandry will recover,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. Bakhmatiuk said that the number of employees in animal husbandry decreased by 7,000, while in the Avangard sub-holding, which produces eggs and egg products by 5,500.
“At the peak there were 32,200 [employees], and now it is 17,300-17,500. For a year and a half, we laid off about 13,000-13,500 people in two main areas – poultry farming and animal husbandry, because they needed borrowing. This situation was due to the reputational terror that has been waged against the company and personally me as a shareholder over the past year and a half,” the businessman said.
He said that Ukrlandfarming is trying to preserve the agricultural business, in particular, the land bank, after previously falling by 170,000 hectares, has recently stabilized at about 470,000-475,000 hectares: almost 200,000 lease agreements and 600 near settlements.
“Now we must sow, carry out the sowing campaign correctly, with no crediting at all. We have prepared for this. It is twice as difficult for us as for everyone, but we will try to pass it,” Bakhmatiuk said.
According to him, the company failed to take advantage of the rise in prices for grain and corn, because it had to sell goods quickly due to lack of working capital.
The owner of the agricultural holding said that he would try to keep the company at its current size, but if pressure continues, it is likely that it will continue to decline. “Any defense, eventually, retreats. Even if not so sharply, but if in a year and a half we lost 35% of the company, then, for sure, this year we can lose another 15% or 10%,” he said.
Bakhmatiuk said that he remains in dialogue with creditors. However, the latter negatively perceive the events around the company. “They do not support me out of great love, probably. If to take it reasonably, they do it forcibly. But they understand that if there is a loss of the company, then there will be total losses for them. I am fighting for my own, and for them,” the businessman said.
According to him, the conversion of debt into shares in this situation will not fundamentally solve the problem. “The question is not about the shareholders. They are, in fact, shareholders at the expense of loans… It is not a problem with the share capital. But the problem is that an agricultural enterprise cannot live without borrowing, because you have a cycle of six to eight months,” Bakhmatiuk said.
In his opinion, creditors will so far refrain from filing a lawsuit against the company, as this will entail a “domino effect” and the loss of 95% of invested resources. “While these constraining factors are important for them, I maintain some kind of dialog with them. But the arguments are getting smaller. You perfectly understand that the time frame is not eternal: in six months or a year the issue must be resolved,” the businessman said.
He said that Ukraine today is in the “agrarian trend” and has good opportunities to increase the export of raw materials in the coming years.
