Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, before the IMF Board of Directors made a positive decision on the allocation of $2.2 billion to Ukraine for the fifth tranche under the EFF extended financing program, signed the law on resetting the Bureau of Economic Security (#3840-IX), the adoption of which was one of the structural beacons of the program.
Information about the signing of the document by the head of state is posted on the website of the Verkhovna Rada.
“An important step forward was the adoption last week of the law on reforming the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine. It is necessary to quickly and decisively implement this law”, – said the head of the mission of the International monetary Fund (IMF) in Ukraine Gavin Gray at a press conference on Friday evening after the allocation of the tranche to Ukraine.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada on June 20 by 239 votes with the required minimum of 226 votes adopted the law on the reset of the BEB. “The text is agreed with partners. With independent selection of the new head of the BEB, recertification and personnel selection. With the participation of foreign experts and Ukrainian business. It could have been better, but already well done,” – commented on the adoption of the first Deputy head of the relevant Committee of the Rada Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
According to him, according to the document, the new head of the BEB is selected by a commission of six members, half of whom are international experts with the right to a casting vote. Re-certification is carried out by a commission of six people each from the newly elected BEB director and from international partners, but at the suggestion of the Ukrainian business community. In addition, a Personnel Commission created according to the same scheme will work for the next three years.
“Guaranteed independence of the BEB director at the level of NABU/SAP/NAPK. And many more important changes about the independence of the institution. It is always possible more and better, but in general very ok”, – summarized Zheleznyak.
BEB reboot, IMF, LAW, ZELENSKY
The weather in Ukraine on Sunday, June 30, will be without precipitation, reports Ukrhydrometcenter.
Wind of variable directions, 3-8 m/s.
The temperature will be 16-21° at night, 29-34° during the day, in southern and central regions in some places 32-36°; in the highlands of the Carpathians at night 10-15°, 22-27° during the day.
In Kiev on June 30, no precipitation. Wind of variable directions, 3-8 m/s.
The temperature is about 20° at night and 30-32° during the day.
According to the Central Geophysical Observatory named after Boris Sreznevsky in Kiev. Boris Sreznevsky in Kiev on June 30, the highest daytime temperature was 34.1° in 1898, the lowest nighttime temperature was 7.6° in 1894.
On the first day of July in Ukraine in the western regions, rain with thunderstorms, hail and squalls 15-20 m/s, temperatures at night 15-20°, daytime 27-32°.
In the rest of the territory hot weather without precipitation, the temperature at night 17-22 °, during the day 30-34 °, in the southern part, Kirovograd, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions in some places strong heat 35-37 °.
Wind of variable directions, 3-8 m/s.
In Kiev on July 1, hot weather without precipitation. Wind of variable directions, 3-8 m/s.
The temperature is 20-22° at night and 32-34° during the day.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has worsened its forecast for real gross domestic product (GDP) growth for this year from 3-4% to 2.5-3.5% at the end of the fourth review of the EFF extended financing program, while improving its year-end inflation forecast from 8.5% to 8%.
“We are now seeing clear signs of a slowdown in growth due to deteriorating sentiment as military action develops and also due to power outages,” Gavin Gray, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to Ukraine, said at a press conference on Friday evening after Ukraine’s tranche was disbursed.
Risks remain exceptionally high, he said, especially due to uncertainties related to the war and external financing.
According to a publication on the Fund’s website, for next year, expectations for Ukrainian economic growth have been worsened to 5.5% from 6.5%, while maintaining the inflation estimate of 7%.
The IMF also lowered its forecast of Ukraine’s nominal GDP for this year to UAH 7.49 trillion from UAH 7.75 trillion in its March review, and for next year to UAH 8.74 trillion from UAH 8.87 trillion.
In terms of GDP composition, the IMF slightly worsened expectations for net exports, while expecting a larger contribution from domestic demand, private consumption and investment compared to the March revision.
The Fund improved the inflation forecast for the end of this year to 8% from 8.5%, maintaining its expectations for its slowdown to 7%, 5.5% and 5% in 2025-2027, but lowered expectations for real income growth this year and next year: by 1.2 p.p. to 8.6% and by 1 p.p., respectively. – to 8.6% and by 1 p.p. to 6.8%. – to 6.8%.
Also, the fourth revision slightly worsened the unemployment estimate: to 14.8% from 14.5% this year and to 14.3% instead of 13.8% next year.
As for the budget, the IMF has increased the estimate of its deficit (excluding grants) – to 20.9% of GDP from 20.2% of GDP for this year, to 10.4% of GDP from 10.3% of GDP for 2025.
According to the document, expectations for external financing have been improved to 12.1% of GDP from 11.8% of GDP and domestic financing to 2.1% of GDP from 2% of GDP, which should be provided by banks, while the estimate of external financing for next year remained at 6.5% of GDP, domestic – 0.9% of GDP with a reduction in the participation of banks to 0.5% of GDP.
As reported, last year the Ukrainian economy, according to the State Statistics Committee, grew by 5.3% after falling by 28.8% a year earlier, and in the first quarter of this year growth amounted to 6.5%.
On April 25 this year, the NBU worsened the country’s GDP growth forecast for this year from 3.6% to 3%.
The government, when approving the draft state budget for the second reading in early November 2023, projected economic growth this year at 4.6%, but the Finance Ministry recently said it had been worsened to 3.5%, and First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said in mid-June in Berlin that the forecast had been worsened to less than 4%.
Last week, a Boeing 737-800 from the fleet of Supernova Airlines of the NOVA group of companies (Nova Poshta) made a maintenance flight from Guangzhou (China) to Vilnius (Lithuania) with a technical stop at Tashkent airport.
This was reported by Vyacheslav Klimov, co-founder of Nova Poshta, on the sidelines of an entrepreneurs’ forum organized by Forbes Ukraine in Kyiv on Thursday.
“The airplane made a maintenance flight. It did not carry cargo and this flight should not be considered as a full-fledged start of commercial activity of SuperNova Airlines,” Klimov said.
He emphasized that the airline is preparing to launch commercial cargo flights, but preparation is a complex process that takes time. Klimov did not specify when this would happen, but he did not rule out that it would be by the end of the year.
Earlier it was reported that Supernova Airlines opened the first route from Riga to Rzeszow in cooperation with the Latvian airline RAF-Avia using its ATR 72 aircraft.
The company clarified that the use of air transportation saves up to 36 hours on the delivery of parcels from (or to) Riga compared to trucks. It was also reported that Supernova Airlines plans to form a fleet in the future with cargo versions of modern aircraft manufactured by Boeing or Airbus.
As reported, on January 6, 2023, Supernova Airlines received a Ukrainian operator’s certificate, which allows it to start cargo flights.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group has spent $209 mln to support Ukraine and its citizens since the beginning of the full-scale war, of which 57% for the army within the framework of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front militarized initiative, 23% for employee assistance, 17% for humanitarian and other projects, and 4% for medical assistance.
According to Metinvest’s presentation at the Barclays ESG Emerging Markets Corporate Day, dated June 26 of this year, the group provided protective equipment to the personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the National Guard, the National Defense Forces and the National Police in support of the military.
At the same time 370 mobile shelters, 150 thousand bulletproof vests, most of which are made with Metinvest armored steel plate, 25 thousand helmets, 2000 thermal imagers and other equipment were purchased and sent to the military. The company manufactured and supplied the defenders of Ukraine with 250 fake military equipment targets, 80 thousand anti-tank hedgehogs and spiked chains, 70 mobile buggies and 5,000 field ovens.
More than 4,900 reconnaissance drones were also sent to the military. To protect Ukraine on the water, the group donated 10 high-speed boats and 800 self-inflating life jackets.
Metinvest’s Ukrainian assets donated 520 vehicles, 100 ambulances and 1.4 million liters of fuel to the front lines. The group also invested in the construction of a mine action center to train specialists in demining areas after combat operations.
As part of humanitarian and other projects, Metinvest, together with other SCM companies and with the assistance of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, in particular, created and finances the “Saving Life” humanitarian aid center with the provision of food and other essentials.
As part of medical aid, the company supplies vital medicines, equipment and consumables to local hospitals. The Group financed the development of medical services and reconstruction of hospitals. Together with the Puls charitable foundation, the group promotes the development of tactical medicine.
Social projects include supporting its employees and their families by providing psychological services, introducing an additional bonus for employees, and developing a program for veterans of the AFU. In 2023, the group’s workforce decreased by 7% year-on-year, with about 6,000 employees serving in the defense forces at the end of last year.
Amid the war, the group has focused on improving safety at work – health and safety expenditure increased by 16% in 2023 compared to 2022.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical companies. The group’s enterprises are located primarily in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage the holding. Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Kormotech, Ukraine’s largest producer of cat and dog food, has started exporting its products to the Korean market, the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
As specified in the report, since June 17, Kormotech’s Optimeal and Club 4 Paws brands have been presented on 12 Korean specialized Internet sites.
South Korea’s pet food market ranks third among East Asian countries, after China and Japan in East Asia. In terms of money, it is three times larger than the Ukrainian market. The share of sales of specialized food for cats and dogs is 50% to 50%.
“The South Korean market is unique in that 67% of petfood sales are made through online channels. This is the highest figure in the world, according to Euromonitor reports. Therefore, one of the challenges in cooperation with South Korea is to gain experience in building and developing online sales in the premium and super premium market,” said Eduard Babenko, Head of Strategic Business Unit Ukraine, Moldova and Southeast Asia at Kormotech.
Kormotech started negotiations with a distributor, Korean company Careside co. Ltd last year, and a cooperation agreement was signed in the fall. At the end of May 2024, the distributor received the first two containers of dry and wet food Optimeal and Club 4 Paws, which is about 24 tons of products.
You Young Kook, CEO of the Korean company Careside co. Ltd. expects that experience in international markets and resources will help the Ukrainian manufacturer to succeed in the South Korean market.
“Kormotech pet food contains high quality ingredients and undergoes rigorous quality control. This is a significant advantage, especially for demanding Korean pet owners. It is impressive to see how the company is constantly deepening its expertise in understanding the approaches to pet food formulation and their impact on the health and quality of life of pets. And most importantly, the efforts it makes to develop a culture of care and companionship with pets,” said You Young Kook.
According to Vladyslav Mazurkevych, Kormotech’s Asia Export Market Development Manager, super premium and premium cat and dog food lines are already available on the following 12 e-commerce sites in South Korea: Naver, Coupang, TM, WM, G-market, Auction, 11th St., Lotte On, Interpark, SSG, CJ on style, GS Shop.
“By the end of this year, we want to start cooperation with pet stores and veterinary clinics so that customers can look at the product, inspect it, and feel it,” Mazurkevych explained.
In 2023, Kormotech’s turnover increased by 22.5% to $152 million from $124 million in 2022. The ratio of sales abroad and in Ukraine in tons is now 31% to 69%, respectively (in 2022, it was 28% abroad and 72% in Ukraine).
