Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

UKREXIMBANK AND EXPORT CREDIT AGENCY TO STIMULATE EXPORT OF UKRAINIAN GOODS AND SERVICES

The state-owned Ukreximbank (Kyiv) and the Export Credit Agency (ECA) have signed a cooperation agreement to stimulate the export of goods, works and services of Ukrainian origin, the bank’s press service said on Monday, November 16.
“For the first projects under this agreement, we plan that the bank will provide Ukrainian exporters with financing of operating capital in the amount of up to UAH 5 million and for a period of up to two years for the production of goods and the sale of works and services for export purposes,” the press service quotes chairman of the board of the bank Yevhen Metsger.
According to him, within the framework of the project, exporters will go through an accelerated decision-making procedure, they will be subject to reduced collateral requirements, which, among other things, can be ECA insurance coverage for up to 85% of the loan or limit.
“The conditions for implementation of insurance compensation by the agency will be determined separately for each insurance contract after the assessment of the project. It is assumed that insurance rate size will be set depending on the loan term and may also be included in the export loan amount,” chairman of the ECA board Ruslan Hashev said.
Ukreximbank was established in 1992, the state is the only owner.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of October 1, 2020, Ukreximbank ranked third in terms of total assets (UAH 226.634 billion) among 74 banks operating in the country.

UKRAINE CUTS MEAT, EGGS, MILK PRODUCTION

Milk production in Ukraine decreased by 4.1%, to 8.02 million tonnes in January-October 2020 (excluding the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea, Sevastopol, the Joint Forces Operation zone) compared to the same period in 2019.
According to the State Statistics Service, 2.71 million tonnes of meat (live weight) were produced in the ten months, which is 1.2% less than in January-October of the previous year.
Egg production decreased by 1.6%, to 14.09 billion eggs for the reporting period.
According to the State Statistics Service, milk production in Ukraine in 2019 decreased by 3.6%, to 9.7 million tonnes compared to 2018. Egg production increased by 3.4% to 16.68 billion in 2019, and meat (live weight) by 5.3%, to 3.49 million tonnes.

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50% OF UKRAINE’S ALCOHOL MARKET IN SHADOW

In Ukraine, about 50% of the alcohol market is in the shadow, CEO of Nemiroff Yuriy Sorochynsky says.
“About 50% of the market is in the shadows. Excessive fiscalization of certain business processes leads to the emergence of shadow economy, which sells the product to the consumer at a price (tax-free) at the level of UAH 35 – UAH 40 per bottle (vodka 0.5 liter), when the price of a legal product is UAH 89,” he said during the online business forum “From Shadows to Transparency” of the European Business Association on Monday.
Sorochynsky said that the shadow market is currently estimated at about UAH 10 billion – UAH 12 billion.
“Our level of fiscalization of alcoholic drinks is one of the highest in the world. In Europe, the average taxation of alcoholic drinks is 23-25%, depending on the country. We have only 43% at the producer level. Additionally, there is another 5% retail excise tax on each bottle sold legally. We have high taxation, which creates unfavorable conditions for business,” the expert said.
He said that in order to combat the grey market in Ukraine, it is necessary to strengthen control over the production and circulation of alcohol, introduce branded control over the circulation of alcoholic drinks and an electronic consignment note.
As reported, on December 11, 2019, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law on the abolishing of the state monopoly on alcohol production from July 1, 2020, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on December 3, 2019.

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INTERPIPE STEEL REDUCES STEEL PRODUCTION BY 14%

Electric steelmaking complex Interpipe Steel of the international vertically integrated pipe and wheel company Interpipe (Dnipro) in January-October of this year reduced steel production, according to operational data, by 13.9% compared to the same period last year, up to 641,000 tonnes.
As the Interfax-Ukraine agency was informed in the company, 62,800 tonnes of steel were produced in October.
As reported, Interpipe in 2019 reduced steel production by 4.2% compared to the previous year to 854,500 tonnes.
Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company, a manufacturer of seamless pipes and railway wheels. The company’s products are supplied to more than 80 countries around the world through a network of sales offices located in the key markets of the CIS, the Middle East, North America and Europe. In 2019, Interpipe sold 823,000 tonnes of finished products, including 202,000 tonnes of railway products. Railway products are sold under the KLW brand.
Interpipe employs 11,000 people. In 2019, the company transferred UAH 3.25 billion to the budgets of all levels.
The company includes five industrial assets: Interpipe Nyzhniodniprovsky Pipe Rolling Plant, Interpipe Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant, LLC Interpipe Niko-Tube, Dnipropetrovsk Vtormet and Dniprostal Steel Complex under the Interpipe Steel brand.

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MACRO SUMMARY OF UKRAINIAN ECONOMY IN SEPT-OCT

Ukraine has entered the crisis in better macroeconomic condition than in previous crises due to prudent macroeconomic management over the past several years, and activity in Ukraine, the largest economy in the subregion, is projected to shrink in 2020, by 5.5%, the World Bank has said.
The decline in GDP in January-August 2020 will amount to 5.8%, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine expects in the review of economic activity in August.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has improved its assessment of the decline of Ukraine’s GDP in 2020 to 7.2% from 8.2% in the June forecast.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said that the GDP forecast for 2020 has remained unchanged at 6% and the expectations regarding its growth next year were improved from 4% (in July forecast) to 4.2%, the NBU said on its website on Thursday.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has improved the assessment of the decline in the gross domestic product of Ukraine (GDP) to 6.2% in July-September 2020 from 7.4% (in July’s forecast), according to an inflation report posted on the regulator’s website on Thursday night.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) predicts a deficit of the public administration sector in 2020 at 6.5%, in 2021 at 4% of GDP and in 2022 at 3% of GDP, according to the central bank’s inflation report posted on its website on Thursday night.
The Board of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has decided to leave its key policy rate unchanged at 6%, according to a posting on the website of the central bank on Thursday.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has improved its inflation forecast for 2020 from 4.7% (in the July forecast) to 4.1%, while worsened it for the next year from 5.5% to 6.5%.
The volume of exports of goods in September amounted to $4.19 billion, which is 2.87% higher than in September 2019, but 0.77% less than in August, the State Customs Service has reported.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-August 2020 decreased 59.4% compared to January-August 2019, to $2.399 billion from $5.915 billion, the State Statistics Service reported on Thursday.
Consumer prices in Ukraine in September 2020 increased 0.5% after a decrease of 0.2% in August and 0.6% in July and an increase of 0.2% in June, 0.3% in May and 0.8% in April and March, the State Statistics Service reported on Friday.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has improved its inflation forecast for 2020 from 4.7% (in the July forecast) to 4.1%, while worsened it for the next year from 5.5% to 6.5%.
State budget revenues in September 2020 amounted to UAH 76 billion, which is 15.3% more than the planned figure and 11.5% more than last year’s level, according to the data of the State Treasury Service.
The total public debt of Ukraine in September 2020 decreased 2.6% in U.S. dollars, to $82.89 billion and increased by 0.32% in hryvnias, to UAH 2.345 trillion, according to data on the website of the Ministry of Finance.
The prices of industrial producers in Ukraine in September 2020 increased 1.7%, while in August the increase was 2.3%, in July 0.4%, and in June and May they decreased 2% and 0.6%, the State Statistics Service reported on Monday.

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WITHINE INVESTMENTS BECOMES SOLE SHAREHOLDER OF UNEX BANK

Withine Investments LTD (Cyprus), belonged to MP Vadim Novinsky, on November 13, increased its stake in Unex Bank (Kyiv) to 100% from 94.979975%, according to the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission.
As reported, Flot Express LLC, owned by Dmytro Yeltyshev, a partner of MP Vadim Novinsky in a number of companies, in September squeezed out the shares of Unex Bank from minority shareholders for the amount of UAH 0.32 with a nominal value of UAH 1.
According to the bank’s report in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, Flot Express with its 4.3638% acted jointly with Withine Investments Ltd.
At the end of August, the companies announced the merger of their stakes, thus entering into ownership of the dominant stake (over 95%) – 99.3438% of the charter capital of the financial institution, or 290.084 million shares out of 292 million of all bank shares.
According to the NBU, as of October 1, 2020, Unex Bank ranked 64th in terms of total assets (UAH 796.827 million) among 74 banks operating in the country.

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