Capital investment in Ukraine in January-March this year fell by 35.5% after growing by 21.2% in the fourth quarter of last year, the State Statistics Service said on Tuesday. According to the State Statistics Service, in the first quarter of this year, UAH 76.914 billion of capital investment was disbursed (excluding the temporarily occupied Crimea, Sevastopol and the territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions).
Among the regions, a significant decrease in capital investment in January-March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 was recorded in Kherson (by 75.4%), Ivano-Frankivsk (by 49.5%) and Zakarpattia (by 49.2%) regions.
Among the industries, capital investment growth in the first quarter of this year was recorded in the provision of other types of services – by 51.4%, telecommunications – by 41.4% and IT and telecom – by 8.7%.
At the same time, in the field of art, sports, entertainment and recreation, the drop in investment amounted to 79.1%, aviation – 77.3%, catering – 74.2%, scientific achievements and developments – 73.2% and forestry – 72%.
The own funds of enterprises and organizations remained the main source of financing for capital investment, thanks to which 73.2% of the total volume of all investments was made.
A significant share of capital investments was made in machinery, equipment and vehicles – 41.7%, buildings and structures – 49.3% of all investments.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to provide a senior secured loan of up to EUR 7 million to Baryshevska Grain Company LLC, the main operating company of the Grain Alliance Group, under the Resilience Framework. The Loan will be used to finance working capital needs of the Group amid the adverse impact of COVID-19 on its business.
According to a posting on the bank’s website, the project was approved in the context of the EBRD’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The loan will support the group’s liquidity and help it withstand the COVID-19-caused crisis. Therefore, it will help the company to preserve its capital expenditure plans, which were part of the original project between the Bank and Grain Alliance approved in 2019,” the EBRD said.
The original transition impact objectives are as follows: improvement in infrastructure for logistics, storage and transportation for export facilitation especially for small third-party farmers and installation of two biomass-fired grain dryers with total capacity of 24 MW utilizing sunflower residues, including husk, dust and broken kernels generated during the operational activity of the group.
The EBRD said that the status of the project is pending final review.
Prosecutors of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) on behalf of the Prosecutor General reported suspicion to MP, the fifth president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.
“According to the investigation, the parliamentarian is suspected of the fact that being the president, he impelled the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of Ukraine to exceeded his authority and official powers in 2018, by issuing an obviously criminal order committing actions that clearly go beyond the rights and powers granted to him, committed in a special period (Part 4 of Article 27, Part 4 of Article 41, Part 4 of Article 426-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine),” the PGO press service reported.
PrivatBank (Kyiv) has issued the first refinancing loan under the Affordable Loans 5-7-9% program at 0% per annum until the end of March 2021, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture said on its website on Tuesday, June 9.
“Under the Affordable loans 5-7-9% updated program, state-owned PrivatBank refinanced a loan to an entrepreneur in the amount of UAH 1.1 million at 0% until the end of March 2021. Partner banks continue to accept applications for new program tools, which were introduced by the government during lockdown measures,” the ministry said in the press release.
However, the demand for loans under such conditions amounted to about UAH 390 million over a week, the Economy Ministry said.
Applications for participation in the program from Credit Agricole Bank and Agroprosperis Bank are being considered, the ministry said.
The first disbursement of $2.1 billion by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been sent to Ukraine, Vladyslav Rashkovan, the representative of Ukraine in the IMF, has said.
“The first disbursement of $ 2.1 billion has already been sent to Ukraine. It will reach the accounts of the government, taking into account the time difference and the speed of funds flow in international payment systems,” he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
Metinvest, the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical holding, took 42nd place in the list of the largest world steel producers with a volume of 9.58 million tonnes in 2019 compared to the 42nd place with a volume of 9.37 million tonnes of steel in 2018, the 42nd place with a volume of 9.59 million tonnes in 2017, the 37th place with a volume of 10.34 million tonnes of steel in 2016, the 40th place (9.65 million tonnes) in 2015 and the 33rd place (11.18 million tonnes) in 2014.
According to the list of the main global manufacturers, compiled by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel), ArcelorMittal remained the largest steel company with a production volume of 97.31 million tonnes in 2019 (96.42 million tonnes in 2018). It is followed by China Baowu Group with 95.47 million tonnes (67.43 million tonnes), Nippon Steel with 51.68 million tonnes (49.22 million tonnes), HBIS Group with 46.56 million tonnes (46.8 million tonnes) and POSCO with 43.12 million tonnes (42.86 million tonnes).
According to the results of each year from 2014 to 2019, there are no Ukrainian companies in the list of the 50 largest world steel producers, except for Metinvest. The Industrial Union of Donbas Corporation, which ranked 44th with a production volume of 7.9 million tonnes in 2013, according to the results of recent years dropped out of the leaderboard.
Among Russian companies, NLMK took 21st place with a volume of 15.61 million tonnes (the 17th place with 17.39 million tonnes in 2018), Evraz group took 28th place with 13.81 million tonnes (the 30th place with 13.02 million tonnes), Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works took 32nd place with 12.46 million tonnes (31st with 12.66 million tonnes), Severstal took 37th place with 11.85 million tonnes (the 34th place with 12.04 million tonnes).
According to Worldsteel, Ukraine produced 20.8 million tonnes of steel and took 13th place in 2019 (while 21.1 million tonnes, 13th place in 2018), cast iron production amounted to 20.1 million tonnes (20.6 million tonnes), while the country exported 2.6 million tonnes of cast iron in 2019, and the apparent consumption of cast iron in Ukraine amounted to 17.5 million tonnes. The apparent steel consumption amounted to 4.8 million tonnes in Ukraine in 2019 (compared to 4.7 million tonnes in 2018), while consumption per person reached 108.1 kg (compared to 107.2 kg per person in 2018).
