Dynamics of changes in population of Ukraine from 1991-2020
Interest rates on deposits in 2020 will continue to decline and may reach 10% in the hryvnia and 1.5% in U.S. dollars, bankers said at a roundtable of the Financial Club on Thursday, May 21. “The trend to reduce interest rates will be examined until the end of the year. Interest rates will decrease,” Board Chairman at Idea Bank Mykhailo Vlasenko said, specifying that the bank’s current interest rates at 12-14% may drop to 8-10%.In turn, Capital Markets Director at Alfa-Bank Tetiana Popovych expects interest rates not to fall below 10%.
“Rates will drop, but in the short and medium term, I still see two-digit rates,” she said.
According to Deputy Board Chairman of TAScombank Oleh Poliak, the financial institution maintains deposit rates in hryvnias at about 11%, and in U.S. dollars at 2%.
“The trend is going down, I think it will remain at the level of 10-11%, in U.S. dollars will be about 1.5-2%,” the expert said.
Chief of the retail business department at Globus Bank Dmytro Zamotayev said that the bank lowered rates last week and plans to continue to decline following the market.
“We want to see the average interest rate about 10%, the ceiling rate of 11% at the end of summer,” he said.
Zamotayev said that at the moment the ceiling passive rate of Globus Bank is 12.75%.
“The rate in hryvnias will be around 11% by the end of June, and if we talk about the currency, when we made the forecast, it will be about 1.5% in U.S. dollars,” deputy chairman of the board at Forward Bank Andriy Prusov said.
He also said that during the lockdown period, about 90% of customers began to place deposits through Internet banking.
According to financial director at Alliance Bank Taras Kravets, the rate may reach 12% by the end of 2020.
“I will support my colleagues that the cost will decrease, but how fast it will depend on how quickly the economy overcomes the effects of the virus,” he said.According to Poliak, it is very important what kind of financial institutions take the first step in lowering rates.
“I believe that these should be state-owned banks, because they have the support of the government,” he said.
The expert believes that lowering rates in the future to 7-8% will not entail the active customer attrition if they see that the bank that serves them provides the customers with a market offer.
Prusov shared his opinion, who believes that lowering rates will not be an obstacle for customers and they will continue to place deposits in hryvnias in banks.
“I would like to say in confirmation of these words that according to the statistics of the NBU, it is obvious that over the last years, customers have placed more funds in hryvnias in banks, even without interest at all. In fact, trust is growing, and there are on-demand deposits on current accounts and their amount is growing every year,” he said.
Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the export of agricultural products of the Myronovsky Hliboproduct (MHP) globally has not changed; the geography has slightly shifted from Europe towards Asia, the owner of the MHP, Yuriy Kosiuk, has said. “Globally, nothing has changed. Europe has slightly fallen due to lower consumption, although all of our enterprises are located there. The Arab markets, Africa have grown. Japan is a little closed, but in the near future, I think, everything will reopen. In general, the picture is unchanged. The only thing is that the geography has shifted slightly from Europe to Asia,” he said in an interview with the Novoye Vremia publication.
According to Kosiuk, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula have already made a request to support and secure them in the supply of meat.
“This issue became especially acute after the opening of markets. Many companies in these countries closed due to COVID-19 cases at production facilities. A similar situation in the United States: closures of production facilities due to outbreaks of COVID-19, shortage in the domestic market, half-empty shelves in stores. In Ukraine, thank God, this did not happen,” the owner of the company said.
At the same time, Kosiuk does not believe that, amid the coronavirus crisis, Ukrainian producers got the opportunity to gain more in the export of food products.
KSG Аgro on May 19, 2020 completed the sowing campaign 2020 launched on April 8, and sunflower, maize and sunflower, maize and sorghum were sown on 10,420 ha. More…
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has offered President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC) Andy Hunder and Executive Director of the European Business Association (EBA) Anna Derevyanko cooperation to develop trade and attract investment, the press service of the ministry said. “In the United States, Asian countries, and EU countries, the protection of internal business abroad, the development of trade, and the attraction of investments are some of the key functions of the foreign ministries. Now we are creating such an effective system of economic diplomacy in Ukraine. I would like to invite the leading Ukrainian business to unite forces,” Kuleba said during a video conference on Tuesday.
Kuleba also told about the relaunch of the Council of Exporters and Investors under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A meeting of the members, 80% of whom were reelected, is scheduled for May 21. Participants will be organized according to industry principles and will develop a joint work plan for the year.
The minister also shared with Hunder and Derevyanko his vision of cooperation between the diplomatic system and business, which will fill the agenda of relations with other countries with real cooperation projects, liberalize trade, expand the geography of exports, and attract investment in Ukraine.
Kuleba believes that successful Ukrainian business is also able to play a key role in establishing an effective system of economic diplomacy. It is, in particular, about professional expert assessment, attracting business to diplomatic education, and conducting special trainings and courses.
Derevyanko and Hunder, in turn, expressed gratitude for the initiative, which, in their opinion, is able to bring cooperation between business and diplomacy to a new level and contribute to the protection of Ukrainian economic interests. For their part, they confirmed their readiness to cooperate under the Council of Exporters and Investors, as well as in the development of an assessment system and diplomatic education.The parties paid special attention to the subject of encouraging foreign companies that transfer production from other regions of the world closer to sales markets, to locating production in Ukraine.
ACC, EBA, FM, INVESTMENTS
For the second year of flights, SkyUp Airlines operated 10,900 flights and carried more than 1.7 million passengers, doubling its results for 2019 (5,200 flights, 870,000 passengers).
According to the company’s press service, the five most popular destinations for scheduled flights were Tbilisi (Georgia), Barcelona (Spain), Batumi (Georgia), Larnaca (Cyprus), Alicante (Spain). At the same time, charter flights are most carried out to Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada (Egypt), Monastir (Tunisia), Antalya (Turkey), and Tivat (Montenegro).
Over the year, the airline’s flight program expanded from 31 to 45 scheduled and from 15 to 74 charter domestic and international destinations. However, the company notes that due to the introduction of quarantine, the launch of more than 20 regular destinations has been postponed.
At the same time, in March-May 2020, due to the introduction of quarantine, SkyUp completed more than 150 irregular commercial special flights, returning home more than 26,000 people.
In addition, during quarantine, the airline launched a new line of business – freight transportation. For these purposes, the carrier converted nine aircraft from its fleet and, since April, has already completed about 100 flights, transporting mainly medical goods.
Currently, SkyUp is preparing to launch its own handling department to improve the quality of service for the airline’s passengers at Boryspil Airport.
