Ukraine and Norway are negotiating about investments in renewable energy projects for EUR300-400 million, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said. “We are starting work with a number of Norwegian companies that come to build relations in renewable energy. The matter concerns serious investment of EUR 300-400 million,” the minister said at a joint press conference with the Norwegian foreign minister in Kyiv.
According to Klimkin, the matter concerns projects, in particular, related to solar energy.
Ukrainian producers of construction materials are concerned about a rise in Ukrzaliznytsia tariffs on freight transportation, the Association of Construction Materials Producers of Ukraine has said.
“In an internal instruction the Infrastructure Ministry has made public its intention to double the tariff for empty freight cars. While tariffs are rising it is impossible to transport construction materials via Lviv Railways… Freights are overcoming a distance of 150 kilometers for six to seven days,” reads the association’s statement.
In turn, Director General of Kovalska Group (based in Kyiv) Serhiy Pylypenko said that failures in Ukrzaliznytsia’s work lead to delays in construction
“Kovalska has to receive over 200 cars of raw materials per day… Due to Ukrzaliznytsia’s awkward management we are forced to delay the supply of construction materials which consequently impacts timely completion of construction activities,” he said.
Pylypenko added that overall costs of services provided by freight transportation companies grew by 60% over eight months in 2018. In particular, Ukrzaliznytsia increased tariffs on freight transportation by its own cars in July.
“In addition, Ukrzaliznytsia virtually does not have multipurpose rolling stock for the transportation of inert materials. Thus producers [of construction materials] have to use other types of cars (for cement, grain, and minerals) and pay extra fees for them in the form of a 20% tariff increase. Moreover, Ukrzaliznytsia’s shortage in locomotives is 130-150 units per day, while freight delivery time is longer by 2-10 days,” Pylypenko complained.
Ukraine officially opened a new sugar refining season on August 31 with the launch of Green Valley LLC agri-complex in Vinnytsia region, the National Association of Sugar Producers Ukrtsukor has said. From September 1 to 3, four more sugar refineries were launched, it said.
As reported, the production of sugar in the 2017/2018 marketing year increased by 6.5%, to 2.14 million tonnes. Some 46 sugar refineries were in operation during that season.
This year, areas under sugar beet crops is 280,000 hectares, which is 13% less than last year.
The tourist flow from Ukraine to Thailand will grow by 15% in 2018 from 2017, to 70,000 people, the Tourism Authority of Thailand predicts.
According to the agency, 60,800 Ukrainian tourists visited Thailand in 2017, which allowed Ukraine to take the second place after Poland in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of the number of trips to Thailand.
At the same time, Ukrainians are the leaders in the world for the duration of their trips to Thailand: in 2017, the average duration of one trip Ukrainians spent in that country was almost 22 days.
In 2017, Thailand was visited by more than 35 million tourists from all over the world, which brought this country $57.5 million. Thus, Thailand took the 4th place in the world in terms of revenue from tourism (after the United States, Spain and France).
The Ukrainian office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand has been operating since February 2017.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) may raise its key refinancing rate to at least 18% in September, bankers polled by Interfax-Ukraine say. “The refinancing rate in September may grow by 0.5%, while the increase in the rate will indirectly help ease the pressure on the hryvnia. Following the increase in the refinancing rate, bank deposit and interest rates may grow by 0.5%,” Governor of Bank RwS Vladyslav Kravets has said.
The head of the financial department at Ukrgasbank Viktor Pasternak also predicts that the NBU will raise the key rate in September.
“The National Bank of Ukraine’s increase in the refinancing rate may be within one percentage point. Now the hryvnia is seeing its seasonal weakening, which in turn affects inflation, and an increase in the NBU’s refinancing rate helps curb the inflation,” he said.
According to Pasternak, raising the key rate raises the cost of the hryvnia, but it will not directly influence the exchange rate of the hryvnia.
Head of the investor relations department at Credit Dnepr Bank Andriy Prikhodko also forecasts growth of the refinancing rate.
“The deterioration of financing conditions for Ukraine against the background of the acceleration of the devaluation in August creates prerequisites for raising the refinancing rate, so a small increase in the refinancing rate is possible. A tough monetary policy will increase the profitability and attractiveness of hryvnia instruments, which should reduce pressure on the rate (hryvnia) and inflation. The increased key rate will directly affect the yield of government domestic loan bonds and deposit certificates, the impact on rates on bank deposits and loans will be more indirect and with a certain time lag,” he said.
Governor of Piraeus Bank Serhiy Naumov also forecasts the refinancing rate may increase slightly in September.
“Despite the fact that inflation slowed this summer, inflation expectations are still high, we are entering the autumn period when the exchange rate is growing seasonally and the likelihood of gas price hikes for households is high, so I believe that the NBU can once again consider an increase in the rate. But I don’t think it will be drastic. If the key rate grows, I think rates on both bank deposits and loans will go up, but not immediately and not crucially,” the banker said.
Foreign Minister of Norway Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide will pay a working visit to Ukraine on September 4-6. The press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine said within the framework of the visit the Norwegian minister will hold talks with the foreign minister of Ukraine.
“Important attention will be paid to the development of a political dialogue, strengthening the positive dynamics of trade and economic relations, attracting Norwegian investments, as well as effective implementation of the Norwegian government’s assistance projects in the implementation of reforms in Ukraine,” the press service said.
The agency added the ministers will pay attention to deepening cooperation to counter threats in Europe, including the ways to resolve the conflict in Donbas.
