Ukraine’s Economic Development and Trade Ministry on Tuesday presented Ukraine’s export brand “Trade with Ukraine,” using which Ukrainian goods and services will be promoted to international markets. An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that the brand was designed under order of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry and the Export Promotion Office of Ukraine with support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The graphic part of the brand is a big letter “U” of blue color with a small circle in the upper part, in which the letters “ua” are inscribed, as well as the slogan “Trade with Ukraine”. At the same time, the first part of the slogan can be transformed depending on the industry, for example: for food industry – “Taste with Ukraine”, machine building – “Manufacture with Ukraine” and creative sphere – “Create with Ukraine”.
“For the first time, Ukrainian goods and services from different sectors will be united by a single visual and emotional context for the promotion of the Ukrainian economy and export development,” the brand’s developers said. During the presentation, the brand platform and the exhibition brand book of Ukraine were also presented.
“The mission of the export brand is to create a powerful brand of Ukraine as a reliable trading partner in the world. This is a platform for building and strengthening the positions of Ukrainian exporters at the global level,” First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv said at the press conference entitled “The launch of the export brand of Ukraine.” According to him, the rating and quality of export brands in the world are interdependent with the export positions of the countries.
“The better the country is known as an exporter, the higher is its rating as the country,” the deputy prime minister said.
The brand’s developers are convinced that the export brand is an important part of the brand of Ukraine, and forms 50% of the country’s brand, influencing on three of its six indicators: goods and services, business climate and tourism. The target groups of the export brand are Ukrainian manufacturers of goods and services, traders, business associations; foreign manufacturing companies, foreign business media; embassies and governments.
Some 66 enterprises have been selected to participate in the Energy Efficiency Project of GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) and Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine. “A total of 66 enterprises have already been selected, which will receive technical support to identify and implement pilot energy efficiency projects,” First Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Maksym Nefyodov wrote.
According to him, among them 19 enterprises of the baking industry, 15 – from the dairy sector, 19 – machine building, as well as 11 enterprises for the production of nonmetallic building materials and two enterprises from other industries.
The list includes, among others, Kyivkhlib, Kyivsky BKK, Kupiansk Canned Milk Factory, Kaniv branch of the Cheese Club, Starokostiantynivsky Dairy Plant, Zhytomyr Butter Plant, EthnoProduct, JV Vitmark-Ukraine, Galca Ltd, Dnipropolymermash, Corum Druzhkivka Machine-Building Plant, Kharkiv Machine-Building Plant FED, IC Pozhmashina, Umanfermmash and OLIS.
In addition, the Kharkiv Tile Factory, Kerameya, the Kyiv Combine of the Construction Industry, the two branches of the SBK, the Tavriya Construction Company, the Temp Plant and the Zhytomyr Roofing and Insulating Materials Plant were selected.
Chairman of the State Agency for Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving Serhiy Savchuk said, commenting on the project on the agency’s website, that as part of the implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU, one of the articles of which foreseen energy efficiency audit for large enterprises once in four years or the switch to the energy efficiency management, a bill on energy efficiency has been drawn up.
According to a posting on the website of GIZ, the project to advice enterprises in the energy efficiency sphere was started in 2017 and will last until 2021. GIZ said that the energy efficiency potential, especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises, is 30-50%.
Ukraine in January-August 2018 increased steel pipe exports by 7.3% compared to the same period in 2017, to 434,600 tonnes, of which 70.2% accounted for seamless, 29.8% for welded pipes, according to a Monday press release of the state-owned Enterprise Derzhzovnishinform. At the same time, foreign exchange earnings from pipe exports increased by 39.6% to $484.6 million (82.2% – seamless and 17.8% – welded pipes).
According to the results of the eight months ending August 2018, the export of semi-finished products was 4.512 million tonnes, which is 16.5% more compared to the same period last year. In monetary terms, the growth in exports of semi-finished products amounted to 47.3%, to $2.167 billion.
The volume of export of finished rolled products decreased by 2.8% to 5.498 million tonnes, however, due to the general increase in prices in the global market in the segment of finished rolled products, revenues from its exports increased by 18.6%, to $3.248 billion.
The volume of exports of raw materials for metallurgy (goods from group 72) increased by 31%, to 3.04 million tonnes in January-August 2018, while foreign exchange earnings increased by 25.2%, to $ 1.534 billion.
A significant upward dynamics is demonstrated by the export of pig iron, which increased by 45.8%, to 2.113 million tonnes. The main sales markets for Ukrainian iron are the United States, Italy and Turkey.
Exports of ferroalloys in January-August increased by 2.5% to 622,700 tonnes, scrap metal exports increased by 17% to 300,300 tonnes. Proceeds from the export of ferroalloys for the period fell 2.9%, to $696.9 million, but increased from scrap exports by 69.8%, to $98.2 million.
Import of rolled metal to Ukraine in the first eight months of this year in kind increased 11.7%, to 883,500 tonnes, and in monetary terms – by 22.2%, to $711.7 million.
Imports of flat steel increased 0.6% to 192,500 0 tonnes, but imports of flat rolled products with coating decreased by 7.8%, to 311,100 tonnes. At the same time, the foreign exchange costs for the import of rolled products amounted to $711.7 million.
The Ukrainian insurance market in the volume of insurance premiums collected in 2017 in foreign currency equivalent was 61st in the world, and in the pace of growth it was among the top ten most dynamic global markets, member of the National Commission for Financial Service Markets Regulation Oleksandr Zaletov has said, speaking at the 18th International Financial Forum in Odesa last week. He said that over the past 10 years the insurance companies of Ukraine have made insurance payments in claims to the population and enterprises in the amount of more than UAH 67 billion, of which UAH 5.5 billion was recovered through cooperation with leading foreign reinsurers and reinsurance brokers from Switzerland, the U.K., Germany, Poland, Austria, the United States, France and other countries.
This year, as in previous years, in all segments of the insurance market, there has been a trend towards an increase in the volume of services provided.
In January-June 2018, net insurance premiums increased by 24% and amounted to UAH 16.7 billion, net insurance payments – by 27%, to UAH 5.9 billion.
The size of insurance reserves accumulated by insurers amounted to about UAH 24 billion (an increase of 15.4%). Against a 14.5% decrease in the volume of reinsurance, the amount of reinsurers’ compensation in insurance payments increased by 58.6%.
In H1 2018, over 36.6 million insurance contracts were concluded with individuals (an increase of 8.2%), apart from compulsory personal transport accidents insurance, the number of contracts increased by 12.8%, to 65.5 million.
Endowment life insurance covers over 738,000 citizens, which insurance premiums reach some UAH 8.1 billion. Investment income in the amount of UAH 334 million was received from these premiums.
The total amount of funds insurers placed in banks exceeded UAH 15.4 billion, or 65% of the funds of nonbank financial institutions deposited in banks.
Over UAH 6.5 billion, or 28% of the funds invested in this financial instrument by domestic enterprises (apart from banks) were invested by insurers in government domestic loan bonds.
Households of Ukraine in January-June 2018 concluded insurance contracts for a total amount of UAH 8.6 billion, which is 22.7% more than for the same period in 2017.
Ukraine’s Finance Ministry in 2019 plans to place eurobonds for the amount of UAH 102.9 billion or $3.5 billion on the foreign loan market, taking into account the forecast hryvnia exchange rate to the U.S. dollar.
The figures are outline in bill No. 9000 on the national budget for 2019 registered by the Verkhovna Rada on September 15, 2018.
According to the document, the securities’ maturity term would be from five to 15 years.
In addition, the Finance Ministry expects that the ministry would raise UAH 1.47 billion from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development under the Social Safety Nets Modernization Project and UAH 18.375 billion of the macro-financial assistance from the European Union.
The total volume of domestic borrowings is planned at the level of UAH 202 billion, including UAH 6 billion thanks to the placement of nine-month government domestic loan bonds, UAH 8 billion – eight-month bonds, UAH 10 billion – one-year bonds, UAH 19 billion for three-month bonds pegged to the national currency. Another UAH 13 billion will be attracted through the placement of five-year government domestic loan bonds, UAH 58.694 billion – three-year and UAH 87.325 billion – two-year bonds (all – in the national or foreign currency).
Repayment of the principal of the state debt next year is planned in the amount of UAH 272.247 billion, including UAH 121.767 billion for external debt.
In addition, UAH 145.205 billion will be assigned to servicing the state debt, including UAH 56.44 billion for external one.
Ukraine has fulfilled a major part of conditions for receiving the first tranche of macro-financial assistance (MFA) from the European Union in the amount of EUR 500 million, acting Finance Minister of Ukraine Oksana Markarova has said.
“Most of the conditions for the first tranche have already been fulfilled. Some of them are in the process of implementation at the final stage. I think getting the first tranche is realistic enough,” she told Interfax-Ukraine on the sidelines of the 15th YES Conference organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv.
“The question is about reaching agreements with the IMF, which are also important for the MFA. We are working on this too, as soon as there is, I hope, a positive solution, then we will be able to [to get the MFA],” Markarova said.
Commenting on the specific conditions for the first tranche of the MFA, she said that the Finance Ministry had already approved seven general tax consultations since July.
“After we approved amendments to the Tax Code that enable the Finance Ministry to render these consultations, we did not actively use this tool. It’s my personal priority,” Markarova said.
She said that some legislative requirements are differently interpreted by tax offices in regions and courts, and the role of these generalized consultations is to provide equal interpretation, therefore, the ministry will use this tool.
Asked about the fulfillment of the requirement to ensure effective verification of information on beneficiaries in the public register, Markarova said that this requirement has already been practically fulfilled, as it is prescribed.
“This is a matter of changing the legal acts. There is already a clear understanding of what needs to be changed in the regulatory framework to make this possible. I think we will fulfill this condition,” the acting minister said, adding that there is no need for legislative amendments.
At the same time, she said that, in general, the verification of beneficiaries is a very complex issue. Markarova said that there is no country that can show how it works, in particular, this is a new experience for European partners of Ukraine.
The acting minister also said that the draft national budget for 2019 announced all the required funds for the work of the High Anti-Corruption Court.
