Ukraine on February 28 raised a loan of EUR 529 million from Deutsche Bank under the guarantee of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, the World Bank Group), according to the website of the Ministry of Finance. The funds were received in two tranches: an A tranche in the amount of EUR240 million with maturity in four years and a B tranche in the amount of EUR289 million with a final maturity in ten years (four years and six months after raising the funds, the loan is subject to gradual repayment with certain amounts every half a year).
The second part of the guarantee in the amount of $375 million in the euro equivalent of the total amount of the World Bank guarantees of $750 million was used for the loan.
As reported, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on December 18, 2018 approved the provision of guarantees to Ukraine in the amount of $750 million in support of state policy.
TAS Agro agricultural holding in 2018 increased its land bank by 11.4%, to 83,000 hectares, businessman Sergiy Tigipko has said.
“In 2018, we bought the lease rights for 8,500 hectares of land: 3,500 hectares in Kherson region for irrigation and 5,000 hectares in Chernihiv region. Now we have about 83,000 hectares. And we are also considering two more transactions: for 3,000 and 12,000 hectares. If we agree on conditions, then we will buy them,” he said in an interview with the New Time (Novoye Vremia) magazine.
According to Tigipko, TAS Agro is not actively involved in processing now.
“Working in the bank, we see the profitability of many businesses: how they earn on eggs, poultry, or milk. And nowhere do we see more profitability than just in production of grain,” the businessman said.
TAS Agro cultivates land in Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kherson, and Dnipropetrovsk regions. It is engaged in dairy cattle breeding (up to 5,500 animals), owns six elevators with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes.
ElectraWorks Limited (Gibraltar), operating under the bwin sports betting brand and owned by GVC Holdings PLC in London, has made showman and Servant of the People Party leader Volodymyr Zelensky the odds-on favorite to win the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine.
According to bwin’s website, incumbent President Petro Poroshenko’s odds have dropped from 2.2 to 1 to 2.05 to 1 over the last five days.
Odds for Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko to become president have dropped from 4.75 to 5 to 1.
In fourth place, according to bwin, is Civil Position Party leader Anatoliy Hrytsenko, at 21 to 1.
Real wages in Ukraine in January 2019 compared with January 2018 increased by 9.5%, while compared with December 2018 it decreased by 13.6%, the State Statistics Service has reported. According to the service, the average nominal wage of full-time employees in January 2019 compared with the previous month decreased by 12.8%, in annual terms it grew by 19.6%, reaching UAH 9,223.
The authority said that in December 2018, it amounted to UAH 10,573, November – UAH 9,161, October – UAH 9,218, September – UAH 9,042, August – UAH 8,977 and July – UAH 9,170.
According to the statistics department, the largest increase in the average wage of full-time employees in January 2019 compared with January 2018 was observed in Zaporizhia (25.1%), Poltava (23.5%), Dnipropetrovsk (23.0%), Vinnytsia (22.4%), Ternopil (20.5%) and Kharkiv (20.2%) regions, while in Kyiv city this figure was 17.6%.
The highest level of wages in the past month was recorded in Kyiv city – UAH 13,721, and the lowest in Chernivtsi region – UAH 6,958.
In January 2019 compared with the same month of 2018, wages increased the most in IT and telecommunications – by 25.2%, in industry – by 24.9%, in construction – by 24.0%, in public administration and defense, compulsory social insurance – by 22.9%, administrative and support services – by 21.8%, and real estate transactions – by 20.3%.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has ratified a treaty between the governments of Ukraine and Qatar on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of income tax evasion.
The Finance Ministry of Ukraine reported on its website that the ratification of the treaty will help to accelerate the prevention of tax evasion, mutual reduction of tax obstacles for investment and trade.
The treaty introduces taxation of dividends at the rate of 10%, as well as 5% for dividends received by a company holding less than 10% of the capital of the dividend payers. The document sets taxation of royalties at the rate of 10% and 5% for other cases.
In addition, the treaty foresees the exchange of tax information without reservations about the requirements of national tax interest or bank secrecy, the Finance Ministry said.
Revenue of Ukrainian banks, not taking into account insolvent ones, totaled UAH 20.18 billion in January 2019, which is 38% more than in January 2018, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has reported on its website. The number of banks for the period from February 1, 2018 to February 1, 2018 decreased to 77 from 82 financial institutions.
The National Bank said that the interest income of banks in January increased by 18%, to UAH 13.282 billion, commission fees – by 18%, to UAH 4.628 billion. In addition, banks received UAH 1.656 billion from revaluation and purchase/sale operations (a loss of UAH 1.059 billion was recorded in January 2018), UAH 481 million of other operating income (an increase by 11%), UAH 79 million of other income (a decrease by 39%) and UAH 54 million from return of written-off assets (an increase by 38%).
The expenses of the banking system in January 2019 amounted to UAH 14.754 billion, which is 14% more than in January 2018.
Interest expenses increased by 10%, to UAH 6.255 billion, commission fees – by 35%, to UAH 1.47 billion, administrative expenses – by 15%, to UAH 4.136 billion, and contributions to reserves – by 14%, to UAH 1.759 billion. In addition, other operating expenses increased by 20%, to UAH 821 million, and other expenses decreased by 3%, to UAH 77 million.
After tax deduction, the net profit of Ukrainian banks in January 2019 amounted to UAH 5.426 billion, which is a 3.2-fold rise compared with January 2018.
