KYIV. March 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Piraeus Bank (Kyiv) and public joint-stock company Concern Khlibprom (Lviv), a large bread producer in Ukraine, in March 2017 signed a credit agreement with the financing limit of UAH 100 million.
“The project confirms the bank’s desire to actively participate in the development of the Ukrainian economy in general and the country’s western region in particular. Plans of the bank to increase its credit portfolio by 120% also are evidence of this,” the bank said in a press release, citing Director for western region Marian Shabatura.
Khlibprom Concern is one of the largest bread producers in Ukraine. Its eight production units are located in Lviv and Vinnytsia regions. The company owns the Khlibna Khata, Namynaiko, Vinnytsiakhlib, Bandinelli, Liubliana and Khlib po Lvivsky brands.
In 2016, the concern made 73,000 tonnes of bread and bread products.
Piraeus Bank ICB was founded in 1994. On January 1, 2017 the largest shareholder of the bank with a stake of 99.9918% was Piraeus Bank S.A. (Greece).
Piraeus Bank ICB ranked 35th among 100 operating banks in the country on October 1, 2016 by total assets (UAH 2.948 billion), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
KYIV. March 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – State-run PrivatBank plans to expand cooperation with the government in providing some social services on the basis of Privat24 platform, PrivatBank Head Oleksandr Shlapak has said.
“PrivatBank today is a leader of so-called ‘digital banking.’ For many years we have been providing services that no country provides. We are trying to convince the government that state-run banks are able and must be agents of the state in providing public services, crediting and many state-sustained programs,” he said at the presentation of Privat.Share in Kyiv on March 21.
The head of the bank said that some services have been realized, including via the utility services cabinet using which anyone who works with the Privat24 application can pay for any utility services.
PrivatBank also presented a first electronic student ticket and quickly received requests from many educational institutions asking to implement the similar initiative in their institutions.
Shlapak said that the bank is holding talks with Lviv City Administration on the creation of the first digital card of city residents and announced the subsidy service.
“Information bridges between PrivatBank, Social Policy Ministry and Pension Fund are required to launch this service [subsidies]. The negotiations are being held. I have submitted the relevant proposal to the prime minister. I am sure that exchange of this information would help the government to provide subsidies quicker and not to provide them to those who are not to receive them,” he said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman who visited the presentation said that the government is interested in expanding cooperation with the banks in the implementation of state-sustained programs.
“Today we saw the products the bank is offering to its clients. I can say that they are innovative, starting from remote social services and finishing all other forms of payment for any products, including the PrivatMarket platform for holding public tenders. This implies convenient opportunities for Ukrainian citizens. I am sure that the provision of these services would give new opportunities for development of PrivatBank. I am pleased that after the nationalization PrivatBank remains a leader,” the prime minister said.
KYIV. March 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on March 22 opened the new four-year program “Financial Sector Transformation” worth $23 million in Kyiv.
Deputy Chief of the U.S. Mission in Ukraine George Kent said it is extremely important that while developing and implementing reforms we should not forget about financial services consumers.
According to him, within the framework of the project it is planned to provide assistance in the following areas: increasing confidence in banks, improving access to financing in the non-banking fiscal sector, increasing the share of e-finance, reforming the pension system.
Kent said the informational educational program of the National Bank of Ukraine for fiscal services consumers starts in three weeks.
USAID has been working in Ukraine since 1992. It focuses on three areas: health care and social reforms, economic growth, democracy and governance.
During this time USAID has provided Ukraine with technical and humanitarian assistance in the amount of $1.8 billion.
KYIV. March 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine since the beginning of the 2016/2017 agricultural year (July-June) and as of March 22, 2017 had exported 32.13 million tonnes of grain.
According to the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food, the country exported about 14.29 million tonnes of wheat, 4.7 million tonnes of barley and 12.94 million tonnes of corn.
In addition, 269,200 tonnes of flour were exported.
As reported, with reference to the ministry, Ukraine in the 2015/2016 agri-year (July-June) exported 39.487 million tonnes of grain, which is 13.5% more than in the previous season.
According to the forecasts of the ministry, grain exports in the 2016/2017 agri-year could reach about 40 million tonnes.
KYIV. March 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Iron ore pellets producer Ferrexpo with key assets in Ukraine saw a six-fold rise in net profit in 2016, to $189.2 million.
According to a company report on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), its revenue last year grew by 2.6%, to $986.33 million.
Ferrexpo saw a 14% rise in gross profit, to $585.99 million, a 27.6% rise in operating profit, to $320.46 million and a 20% rise in earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), to $375 million.
The company said that net debt narrowed by 32%, to $589 million and the cash balance grew by over four times, to $145 million.
Capital investment last year dropped by 25%, to $48 million.
Pellet production in 2016 fell by 4%, to 11.2 million tonnes, while sales grew by 3%, to 11.697 million tonnes.
