The number of banks expecting an increase in the volume of their loan portfolio over the next 12 months amounted to 78% for the corporate segment and 82% for lending to the population, according to the results of a survey conducted by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on the conditions of bank lending.
“The survey participants positively assess the prospects for lending in the next 12 months: 78% of respondents predict the growth of the loan portfolio of corporations, 82% of households. These are the highest estimates of the growth of the loan portfolio of the population since 2015, however, some large banks expect a certain deterioration in its quality,” the review says.
According to the report, the optimism of the respondents regarding the further increase in funding has grown, in particular, 77% of respondents expect an increase in household deposits, 78% – funds of enterprises.
The banks note that despite expectations of the introduction of new quarantine restrictions, the demand for loans increased from business and the population, in particular, the demand for mortgages was the highest in the entire history of observations.
It is indicated that in January-March 2021, the demand for business loans increased, primarily for loans to SMEs, in hryvnias and long-term loans.
The main factors behind the revival of demand are still cited by banks as a decrease in interest rates, the need of enterprises for capital investments and working capital, as well as debt restructuring.
The banks explain the softening of the creditworthiness for business by the high level of liquidity, increased competition with other banks, as well as improved expectations regarding the overall economic activity and the development of certain industries, primarily for SMEs.
According to the survey, almost a quarter of the surveyed respondents noted an increase in the level of approval of applications for business loans and easing requirements for the size of the loan.
It is indicated that 92% of financial institutions rated the debt burden of household borrowers as average, and more than 80% of financial institutions also rated the debt burden of corporate borrowers.
The survey was conducted from March 19 to April 9, 2021 among credit managers of 23 banks, whose share in the total assets of the banking system of Ukraine is 88%.
The National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission of Ukraine (NEURC) has set a feed-in tariff for the first stage of a wind power plant of EuroCape Ukraine I LLC (Zaporizhia region) with a capacity of 98.01 MW in the amount of 8.82 eurocents per kWh.
According to the decision adopted at the meeting on April 22, the tariff is valid until January 1, 2030.
The first stage of Zaporizhia wind farm consisting of 27 GE Renewable Energy wind turbines with a capacity of 3.6 MW in accordance with the SACI certificate was commissioned on April 7, 2021. The planned annual volume of electricity supply from the facility is 325.5 million kWh.
As reported, EuroCape Ukraine I announced plans to build 500 MW wind farms in Zaporizhia region back in 2009, however, in particular, due to problems with land allocation, the project entered the construction stage only in mid-2019.
Lending for the construction of the wind farm is carried out with the financial support of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC, formerly OPIC), which in December 2017 approved a loan for $ 150 million and insurance with reinsurance in the amount of up to $ 320 million. The total cost of construction of the wind farm was then estimated at EUR466 million ($ 560 million).
In July 2019, General Electric (GE) and LongWing Energy SCA (Luxembourg) issued a $ 150 million debt financing package for the first stage of Zaporizhia wind farm.
EuroCape Ukraine I is part of EuroCape New Energy Ltd of the international concern Eurocape Group, which is engaged in the development and construction of wind and solar energy facilities. In addition to its activities in Ukraine, the concern also has large-scale projects in France, Italy, Romania and Poland.
Cyprus-based LongWing Ukraine Limited (formerly Eurocape (Ukraine) Limited) is a 100% beneficiary of EuroCape Ukraine I.
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of April 26
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Dynamo defeated Ingulets with a score of 5: 0 at the NSC Olimpiysky stadium in Kyiv on Sunday, April 25, having received the championship title three rounds before the end of the season.
Zabarny and Besedin scored the first two goals against Ingulets. After the break, Tsyhankov scored two goals into the opponent’s goal. Popov scored the last fifth ball after a corner kick.
For the first time since 2016, Dynamo has won gold medals in the Ukrainian championship. Lucescu’s team has become unattainable for competitors in the table of the 23rd round of the Ukrainian Premier League.
GigaCloud cloud provider tops the ranking of IaaS providers in Ukraine presented by Molfar research agency.
The agency said on its website that GigaCloud received the highest marks for its flexible loyalty system, technical support and disk performance.
Parkovyi datacenter, DE-Novo, Tucha and Tetcloud also took the leading positions.
The study was conducted using mystery shopping, according to a GigaCloud release made available on Tuesday. A request was sent to 18 IaaS companies in Ukraine on behalf of an accountant of an audit company planning to switch to remote work: a cloud for access to 1C: Enterprise 8.3 (8.3.11.2867) for five employees; preliminary testing of the service.
When calculating the result, the response time to the first request, the quality of technical support (including customer focus and softskills), assistance with migration, price and a number of technical parameters were taken into account.
Points were awarded in five categories: prices, response speed and conditions of a commercial offer, how long they have to sign a contract, service testing and technical testing.
The final ranking included 10 companies that responded to the request and provided testing of the service.
As part of the terms of reference, common for all rating participants, the most affordable prices were at Cosmonova, United-DC and GigaCloud. De-Novo has the highest cost of the service.
De-Novo topped the response and terms of commercial offer together with GigaCloud, the second place was taken by Tetcloud, and Parkovyi datacenter was third.
In the category how long they have to sign a contract GigaCloud received the maximum points in the subcategory contract delivery speed.
GigaCloud was a leader in the service testing category, the second and third places in this category were taken by Parkovyi and Tucha.
All companies that took part in the rating declared 24/7 technical support. However, according to the study, seven out of 10 companies responded to requests at night from more than one hour to complete ignorance. The response time to the request turned out to be less than an hour at only three participants (GigaCloud, De-Novo and Tucha).
Western countries will continue to support Ukraine and will continue to provide their assistance to our country to quickly overcome the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster. The corresponding statement was made by the Ambassadors of Germany and Great Britain in Ukraine, as well as the Deputy Head of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine during an online discussion of Kyiv Security Forum, organized by Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Open Ukraine Foundation, the forum’s press service reported on Monday.
Thus, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen noted that Germany continues to provide assistance to Ukraine even 35 years after the accident at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.
She also stressed that the most famous international project on safety at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant is the construction of a new safe shelter over the old sarcophagus of the fourth power unit.
“This unique masterpiece of modern technology should protect the environment from the radioactive remnants of a destroyed reactor for at least a hundred years. Germany has directly contributed about EUR 100 million to the project, the total cost of which is more than EUR 2 billion. All these assistance measures can only try to slightly reduce the harm caused and alleviate the terrible suffering,” said Feldhusen.
In turn, British Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Melinda Simmons said that it is impossible to fully assess all the losses and negative consequences for humanity that were caused by the Chornobyl accident even 35 years after the accident.
The diplomat noted that today British engineers are involved in projects that guarantee the safety and stability of the Chornobyl zone, including a new safe shelter.
Simmons said that the total cost of the shelter is EUR 2.1 billion which is the largest international nuclear safety cooperation project supported by 40 countries, including Britain. This example of international cooperation in the field of nuclear safety shows that we have come a long way since 1986, and this gives us the hope for the future that such a tragedy will never happen again, said Simmons.
The United States also reminded of its support for Ukraine. Thus, deputy head of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, Joseph Pennington, said that the transformation of Chornobyl remains a long-term challenge, but Ukraine will not have to cope with it on its own.
He stressed that the United States, along with the rest of the international community, will continue to support Ukraine to ensure the future energy and nuclear security of not only this place, but Ukraine as a whole.
The diplomat noted that no other nuclear accident in history has been more serious in terms of costs and casualties like the Chornobyl accident and clarified that thanks to cooperation between Ukraine and the United States, significant success has been achieved in overcoming the consequences of the disaster.
According to Pennington, the United States is proud to become the largest donor to the New Safe Shelter project, which covers the site of the disaster of the reactor of the fourth Chornobyl power unit.
