The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the signing of an agreement with the German State Development Bank (KfW, Germany) on raising EUR 9 million of financial support for the development of social infrastructure. “The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on March 28 adopted the resolution on signing a financial and project agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, represented by the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Social Investment Fund, and KfW for the amount of EUR 9 million,” the press service of the Ministry of Social Policy said.
It is noted that the implementation of the act will allow obtaining aid from the German government in the framework of bilateral cooperation within the “Restoration in the east of Ukraine” project.
The agreement on free trade area (FTA) between Ukraine and Israel foresees the annulment of import duties for 80% of industrial goods from Ukraine to Israel and some agricultural products from the moment when the document takes force, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska has said. “At the same time, import duties will be abolished within a range of quotas for a number of agricultural products, and there will be a gradual cancellation of import duties during the transitional periods – three, five and seven years. After these terms end, the duties will be leveled to nil,” she said at a press briefing after a government meeting on Wednesday.
According to Mykolska, a certain category of goods falls under partial liberalization. At the same time, jewelry is excluded from the list of goods to which the document applies.
“After the agreement comes into force, Ukrainian producers can export their goods to the Israeli market without taxes. Why is it so important? Because Israel is a fairly closed market with high import duty rates, particularly for agricultural products, for example, for some meat the bound import duty rate exceeds 280%,” she said.
In turn, Ukraine opens 70% of the industrial goods market for Israeli producers and also abolishes duties on a number of agricultural products immediately after the FTA agreement enters into force, for some products – within three or five years. In particular, Ukraine will partially reduce tariffs for certain seasonal vegetables and fruits from Israel, the trade representative said, responding to a question from Interfax-Ukraine.
“However, this list is not exhaustive. The FTA agreement is a long-term document,” First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv said. At the same time, he said that Ukraine in the near future will start negotiations about the FTA with a new country, but he did not specify which state it is.
Oleksandr Mangul has been elected the new head of the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP), who previously served as a member of the NACP.
NACP took such a decision at a meeting on Wednesday. He was elected by four votes.
Chinese freighter FU Rong Song, owned by the well-known maritime carrier Cosco Shipping, has delivered a significant amount of road construction equipment to Odesa. A 180-meter vessel moored to berth No. 1 of the Quarantine Harbor last week, the local portal Dumska reported with reference to sources in the port. Over two days, more than 400 units of equipment with a total weight of 2,500 tonnes were unloaded. The part of the delivered equipment is a mini-plant for the production of asphalt concrete, the rest – dump trucks, graders, asphalt pavers, rollers, truck cranes, etc.
The portal suggests that the arrived equipment is by the Chinese company Xinjiang Communications Construction Group Co., LTD, with which Ukravtodor signed contracts for the repair of sections of the highway Kyiv-Kharkiv-Dovzhanske and Stryi – Ternopil – Kropivnytsky – Znamianka.
A deal to sell Mriya agroholding could take place only after the completion of restructuring of its old debt, the agroholding’s press service has reported. According to the report, there is the interest of potential investors to the company. In particular, in 2017, Kernel and several large agricultural market players offered creditors of Mriya to buy the company. In 2018, some offers from Ukrainian and international companies arrived.
“For our creditors, the current owners of Mriya, agriculture is not a core business, and servicing the working capital of Mriya is a compulsory measure. Therefore, as I have repeatedly said, the arrival of a strategic investor is an ideal option for the further development of Mriya,” the press service said, citing Mriya CEO Simon Cherniavsky. According to him, before the completion of debt restructuring, there is neither a subject of a potential transaction nor a legal mechanism for its implementation.
“We have completed the restructuring of the most of the secured debt and started implementing the agreements reached with unsecured creditors. At this stage we have faced a number of difficulties related to the novelty and uniqueness of the procedure for the Ukrainian legislation and the enforcement system, which delays the process. I would refrain from giving forecasts,” CEO said.
Mriya said that the working capital of the agroholding today is financed by its creditors, mainly – bondholders from the United States and Europe. “We have funds in the full amount for this season: we have enough funds for sowing and harvesting, paying rents, fulfilling social obligations and even replenishing the technical park and investing in technology development. Mriya is working in a usual mode and is confidently looking to the future,” said Cherniavsky said. Previously, the media reported that negotiations about the possible purchase of Mriya by Continental Farmers Group are being held.
Raiffeisen Bank Aval (Kyiv), which earlier was a potential bank for sale, seeks to step up development in the coming years, First Deputy Board Chairman Gerhard Bösch has said. “In the past two years we showed a marked increase in Ukraine and we have ambitious plans regarding business growth in the next three years,” he said at a press conference. Bösch did not give the details of the plans. He expressed doubt that the previous plans of Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI, Austria) to sell the Ukrainian subsidiary are remain in force.
“I do not know if these negotiations are held. They were held in 2013 and were stopped along with the events in Maidan. In 2017, Raiffeisen Bank Aval showed itself as the most profit-making bank in the RBI group. We consider ourselves the best asset in the group, and as a rule, these assets are not sold,” he said.
Raiffeisen Bank Aval was founded in 1992. As of June 30, 2017, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI, Austria) owned 68.28% of the Ukrainian bank’s charter capital, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) held 30%.
Raiffeisen Bank Aval ranked fifth in terms of assets worth UAH 72.108 billion among 84 operating banks as of January 1, 2018, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
