The surplus of Ukraine’s balance of payment in February 2018 reached $252 million, while a deficit of $449 million was seen a month ago, according to preliminary data published on the official website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
In January-February 2018, the deficit of the balance of payment totaled $197 million, which is 13.97% less than a year ago.
The central bank said that the surplus of the current account in February fell by 92.4% compared with January, to $9 million. In January-February 2018, the surplus of the current account was $128 million, which is 15.79% less than a year ago.
The NBU pointed out deterioration in the export performance of a number of commodity groups, despite the maintenance of a favorable price environment for ferrous metals, ores and grains.
According to the central bank, the corresponding pace was due to a slowdown in the growth of production volumes in certain industries and the complication of transportation due to unfavorable weather conditions.
In turn, imports continued to grow, mainly thanks to energy and chemical products.
Revenue sent to the financial account in February amounted to $243 million compared with $568 million outflow a month earlier. According to the NBU, the inflow of funds is linked to the stepping up of purchase of hryvnia-pegged government domestic loan securities by nonresidents.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in February totaled $111 million fully sent to the real economic sector to increase share capital.
Outflow on the financial account in January-February 2018 was $325 million, which is 15.8% less than a year ago, and net FDI inflow was $191 million (32.5% down year-over-year).
Public joint-stock company State Food-Grain Corporation plans to start exports of grain crops and finished products to Qatar. The press service of the corporation reported that the agreement was reached between the top managers of the corporation and one of the largest agricultural companies in Qatar Hassad Food during negotiations at the Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition 2018 in Doha.
“After the negotiations between the State Food-Grain Corporation and the top managers of Hassad Food, a preliminary agreement was reached on the export of Ukrainian mixed fodders to Qatar, according to the individual recipes of the customer. In May, a representative of Qatar Hassad Food is expected to visit Ukraine for more detailed discussion of the terms of export supplies and creation of commercial offers,” the corporation said.
In addition, the government of Qatar expressed interest in the import of Ukrainian grains, in particular barley and corn. “To this end, the next step in the implementation of the main strategic goal of the state corporation is the export of grain, which will be the start of the accreditation procedure for participation in a public tender for the supply of grain crops to Qatar,” the press service said.
The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine intends to launch a register of debtor companies on wages, Justice Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Petrenko has said. “We announce the opening of a public register of the biggest debtors on wages,” he told journalists in Kyiv.
Petrenko also informed that in the current year about UAH 100 million of wage arrears have already been collected.
JKX Oil&Gas Plc with assets in Ukraine saw a 52.3% fall in net loss in 2017, to $17.7 million. According to an annual report of the company posted on the website of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), revenue last year grew by 3.5%, to $76.4 million, and operating profit stood at $7.8 million compared with $3.9 million of loss a year ago.
In 2017 group average production was 8,658 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd, 14.1% down year-over-year).
Production in Ukraine fell by 12%. Gas production fell by 10%, to 16.7 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd). Oil and gas condensate output decreased 20%, to 719 boepd.
As reported, in Ukraine JKX owns Poltava Petroleum Company.
The largest shareholders of JKX are Eclairs Group of Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov with 27.47% of the shares, Keyhall Holding with 11.42% of the shares, Neptune Invest & Finance Corp with 12.95%, and Russia’s Proxima Capital Group with 19.92% and Interneft Ltd. with 6.6%.
Alfa Smart Agro has installed an automated crop protection agent package line at Bila Tserkva preparative forms plant (Kyiv region). The company said that the launch of the line was financed from investment in the development of the plant. Total investment for 2017-2018 would be UAH 90 million.
The line control is computerized. The line services production of herbicides. Its production capacity is 3,600 liters per hour on average.
The company said that the installation of the package line is one of the stages of modernization of production. Soon the similar line will be installed in the pesticide production workshop.
Bila Tserkva preparative forms plant was opened in 2016. It produces crop protection agents and micronutrient fertilizers. Today, its annual capacity is 11,400 tonnes, which allows covering around 15% of the needs of the Ukrainian market.
