One troy ounce=31.10 grams
The international reserves of Ukraine in May 2019, according to preliminary data, decreased by 5.5%, to $19.402 billion due to significant repayments of government debt, according to the NBU’s website.
According to the report, last month the equivalent of $1.801 billion was allocated for servicing and repaying state and state-guaranteed debt in foreign currency. In particular, $1.281 billion were payments for servicing and redeeming eurobonds and government domestic loan bonds. Some $446.5 million was paid on the obligations of the government and the NBU to the International Monetary Fund.
These expenses were partially offset by foreign exchange earnings of $426.7 million from placing government domestic loan bonds and $10 million in financing from the World Bank. The amount of international reserves was also positively influenced by the increase in the value of financial instruments (change in market value, hryvnia exchange rate to foreign currencies) for a total of $80.7 million.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) organizes a syndicated loan of EUR116 million for the manufacturer of sheet materials based on wood Kronospan UA (Novovolynsk, Volyn region), which is part of Kronospan Group, for the construction of a new plant, according to a bank press release.
“The EBRD will be the lender of the record for the amount of EUR116 million, while EUR50 million out of the total will be syndicated to commercial banks Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich under an A/B loan structure,” the report says.
“The funds will finance investments in new production facilities in compliance with relevant EU standards and regulations. The company plans to expand its production in Ukraine with the construction of a new facility in Novovolynsk, western Ukraine,” it reads.
“Specialized energy efficient equipment, including a 45 MW biomass boiler energy plant, a new transformer unit and a new precipitator filter will provide an alternative power supply solution, cut energy losses and help reduce dust emissions. High value-added products manufactured at these facilities are expected to lead to oriented strand board (OSB) imports substitution and more exports from Ukraine to the EU single market and other countries,” according to the document.
Kronospan was created in Austria in 1897. Currently it is the leading European manufacturer of wood-based sheet materials, operating in 21 countries. Total sales exceed EUR2.7 billion per year.
For the first time, Ukraine has been included in the world rating pf operating oil and gas drilling rigs by Baker Hughes GE Rig Coun, in which it took the leading position in Europe in terms of the number of machines involved in drilling.
According to the press service of the Association of Gas Producers of Ukraine, which initiated including Ukraine in this rating, in May 186 drilling rigs operated in Europe (44 offshore platforms), almost half of which (84) worked in Ukraine.
Turkey (20 working machines) and the United Kingdom (16) follow Ukraine in the ranking, the association said.
“Over the past three years, Ukraine has carried out important reforms in domestic gas production, which consisted in improving the regulatory field and modernizing the relevant legislation. These changes are already noticed not only by Ukrainian but also by foreign investors – our country is becoming more attractive for them. Including Ukraine in the BHGE Rig Count index is extremely important because it demonstrates revival in the domestic market and serves as a good indicator for the leading gas producing and service companies to come to Ukraine,” executive director of the association Roman Opimakh said.
The Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) in January-May 2019 increased passenger flow by 18.1% year-over-year, to 5.168 million people, the airport’s press service has told Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, passenger traffic on international flights amounted to 4,755 million people (growth by 19.1%), on domestic – 412,900 (growth by 7.5%).
In general, in January-May 2019, the airport serviced 40,502 flights (an increase of 11.2%), including 35,215 international and 5,287 domestic flights.
In January-May 2019, on regular flights, the Boryspil airport received and sent 4.113 million people. (a rise of 21% over the same period in 2018), on irregular flights – 1.055 million people (a rise of 7%).
The number of transfer passengers since the beginning of 2019 amounted to 1.243 million, which is 6% more than in the same period of 2018. The share of transfer passengers of the total passenger traffic was 24% (a decrease of 3 percentage points).
In May of this year, the passenger traffic of the Boryspil airport amounted to 1.358 million people, which is 20.5% more than in May last year.
Passenger traffic on international flights in May amounted to 1.262 million passengers (an increase of 21.3%), on domestic flights – 6,000 (an increase of 11.2%).
In general, in May, the airport serviced 9,943 flights (an increase of 14.7%), including 8,735 international and 1,208 domestic flights.
The most popular destinations in May were Sharm el-Sheikh, Antalya, Tel Aviv, Istanbul and Hurghada.
