Business news from Ukraine

The industrial community has been working to introduce energy efficiency and energy saving programs in Ukraine on a large-scale basis. The Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE) considers this to be one of the main factors of ensuring the competitiveness of Ukrainian industry and commodities in the European and other international markets. Entrepreneurs and industrialists cooperate in this area with parliamentarians, local authorities, public agencies, and financial institutions.
The signing of a Memorandum of cooperation between the ULIE and the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine (SAEE), which was also joined by Ukrgasbank, has marked a milestone in this activity and become the logical continuation of cooperation between these organizations.
“The Memorandum is not a document of declaration, but the continuation of fruitful work, which began two years ago. We need to consolidate efforts, mainly engage Ukrainian producers in energy efficiency programs. This will facilitate the growth of the domestic market of respective materials and equipment, the creation of new jobs and an increase in the revenue of the budgets of all levels,” SAEE head Serhiy Savchuk said.
He thanked the ULIE for a proactive attitude to energy efficiency issues, noting that it is the domestic industrialists and entrepreneurs who form a point of growth for the Ukrainian economy.
A joint action plan, which will involve not only national government agencies, but also regional administrations and local government agencies, will be elaborated at the ULIE’s suggestion. The plan will propose detailed measures for 2016.
“In particular, it should include work to improve the regulatory framework, ease access to loans, pursue an effective policy in energy efficiency and introduce appropriate incentives for enterprises,” ULIE President and Chairman of the Anti-Crisis Council of NGOs Anatoliy Kinakh said.
The Memorandum stipulates that the parties should be engaged in the development and implementation of energy efficiency programs and hold a series of joint public events.
The creation of regional centers that will popularize and advise condominiums, construction firms and households on the efficient use of energy resources, renewable energy sources and alternative types of fuel is also seen as an effective tool.
Ukrgasbank, which in 2015 started focusing on issuing loans under energy saving projects, will in turn continue this activity in future. And, as was proposed by partners from the business circles, the bank will also consider ways to improve lending conditions in this area.

Non-governmental organizations, businesses, analytical and research institutions, activists are joining hands to find ways to bring the Ukrainian economy out of crisis and develop a common, effective strategy for the country’s development.
The National Business Forum, co-organized by influential civic and business associations – the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Anti-Crisis Council of NGOs, the Ukrainian Business Initiative, the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, the Nova Kraina civil platform, and others, will take place at NSC Olimpiyskiy Complex in Kyiv on March 18. Young, active organizations, which have been established after the Revolution of Dignity, joined the large associations.
The latter stress that Ukraine has failed in the past years to elaborate its strategy for development; reforms in every sphere of social life are needed. The country’s economy is seen by international experts as weak and corrupt, its industrial potential has weakened, citizens’ buying capacity is on the decline, and there is no effective plan to overcome the crisis. The activists also consider that the government’s decision to sell strategic industrial and energy facilities amid the crisis is surprising, as their financial assessment could hardly be adequate.
“We’ve seen the business sector’s readiness to put off own corporate interests, get united with the public sector and start the formation of a common ‘corridor’ of national interests. It’s not about personalities; it’s about concrete tasks, terms and algorithms of their implementation. These are our priorities and what bring us to a discussion platform, which began to work long ago and will not end with the Forum on March 18,” co-founder of the Ukraine Is Me (uais.me) civil movement Serhiy Ivanov said.
In his words, the country is in dire need of working out common rules of the game, forming a transparent financial system, adopting liberal tax reform, and taking measures to strengthen the hryvnia.
Therefore, the NGOs call on everyone to join the Forum by sending their proposals and ideas.
“The process when society, businesses and think tanks get united is the first step towards a new, civilized form of pursuing the policy in the country,” Nova Kraina co-founder Vladyslav Olenchenko said. “The corporate sector cannot stand apart when public management is in crisis ‒ it has substantial resources and achievements it would like to share and is ready to actively cooperate for the development of the country.”
It should be mentioned that the Forum will bring together about two hundred business associations, industrial and business organizations, NGOs, analytical and research centers.
Their proposals will form the basis for a plan of urgent measures to overcome the social and economic crisis and draw up a strategy for the country’s further development and for an open joint statement on the situation in the country and ways to end the crisis. Members of the public and business structures say they are sure that the developed plan should be used as the basis for the government’s action program for the next two years.
Senior government officials, leaders of parliamentary factions, civil society leaders and representatives of the international community have been invited to the Forum.

KYIV. March 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Bayer international chemical and pharmaceutical concern sold $100 million more in crop planting sector goods last year than in 2014.

“Bayer’s total sales in Ukraine last year exceeded EUR 283 million. Sales of goods in the crop planting sphere – EUR 100 million,” Head of Bayer Crop Science in Northern Black Sea Countries Andreas Loechel told reporters on Monday.

He said that sales of crop goods did not change in the U.S. dollar equivalent, but they posted an 18% increase in hryvnias due to local currency devaluation.

Bayer, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Raiffeisen Bank Aval on March 14 announced the start of a new partner financing program. The program helps agricultural companies and farmers by providing low-cost harvest planning and financing.

The financing term has been adapted to the crop cycle (up to nine months). Payments can be completely settled after selling the summer harvest.

Bayer has been operating in Ukraine since 1992 and focuses on health care, agriculture, and high-tech materials. It is a large supplier of plant protection agents (pesticides, herbicides and fungicides).

KYIV. March 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine intends by December 1, 2106 to sign a credit agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and World Bank to build the Kaniv hydroelectric pumped storage power plant.

According to the government’s action plan for 2016, the relevant legislative measures are to be approved by December 1.

Total cost of the project is assessed at EUR 1.283 billion. The capacity of Kaniv hydroelectric pumped storage power plant will be 1 GW in generating operations, its construction will take six and a half years, and the payback period is about ten and a half years.

Public joint-stock company Ukrhydroenergo seeks to borrow 70% of funds for the project from international banks – EIB, World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Deutsche Bank.