The cumulative damage to the global economy from natural disasters last year amounted to about $250 billion, which is the same as in 2022, according to preliminary data from Germany’s Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company. Meanwhile, insured losses in 2023 fell to $95 billion from $125 billion a year earlier. The average for the past five years is $105 billion and for the ten years is $90 billion.
More than 74,000 natural disasters were recorded last year, compared with the five-year average of 10,000. Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria were the most significant humanitarian catastrophe of the year.
Thunderstorms in North America and Europe in 2023 have never been more devastating, the annual report said. In North America, about $66 billion worth of property was destroyed (of which $50 billion was insured), while in Europe the amount totaled €9.1 billion (€7.3 billion).
In general, the damage from natural disasters in Europe last year is estimated at 77 billion euros, the bulk of which came from earthquakes in Turkey. In North America, the total losses amounted to about $100 billion, in Asia-Pacific and Africa – $64 billion.
The Government of Ukraine has canceled the ban on the termination of housing and communal services to the population in case of non-payment or incomplete payment, as well as the ban on the accrual and collection of fines and penalties, inflationary charges on debts for non-payment of such services, introduced at the beginning of the full-scale aggression.
According to the Cabinet of Ministers’ Decision No. 1405 of December 29, 2023, published on the government’s website, such moratorium is maintained only for the territories where hostilities are taking place according to the list of the Ministry of Reintegration.
In addition, in the rules for the provision of housing and communal services, this decree introduced a norm on the need to provide utility providers with a statement and documentary evidence in electronic or paper form of the temporary absence in the residential premises of the consumer and other persons for more than 30 calendar days. It is specified that this may be certificates from the place of temporary residence, work, treatment, education, military service (including those received in a foreign country), serving a sentence, traveling abroad.
It is also established that such confirmation must be updated every six months.
As reported, the government, by its decision of March 5, 2022, introduced a ban on the termination of housing and communal services to the population in case of non-payment or underpayment, as well as a ban on the accrual and collection of fines and penalties. At that time, its term was set until the termination or cancellation of martial law in Ukraine and it was applied from the first day of the invasion of the Russian Federation – from February 24, 2022.
Due to new cases of COVID-19 infection, Kyiv residents are advised to wear masks again to reduce the risk of infection, the press service of the Kyiv City State Administration reported.
“This issue is also relevant in Kyiv. After all, new cases of coronavirus are recorded every week. Among the hospitalized patients, there are serious patients,” the press service of the Kyiv City State Administration quoted the first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration Mykola Povoroznyk as saying.
He emphasized that it is advisable for Kyiv residents to return to the mask regime in crowded places to reduce the risk of infection.
“This is primarily about your health, which needs to be protected. In particular, in case of deterioration and the first symptoms of the disease, you should definitely consult your family doctor and, if necessary, be tested for COVID-19 in time,” he stressed, reminding that vaccination is a reliable protection against severe coronavirus disease.
As reported, the World Health Organization (WHO) urges to continue to observe the mask regime and social distancing to avoid contracting COVID-19, these recommendations are related to the growing trend in many countries where cases of coronavirus disease are observed, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The PFTS Stock Exchange (Kyiv), the largest stock exchange in Ukraine by trading volume, plans to increase its authorized capital (AC) from UAH 32.01 million to UAH 62.01 million, or 93.7%.
The shareholders will consider the issue at an extraordinary remote shareholders’ meeting on February 6 this year, according to the announcement of the meeting on the exchange’s website.
According to the announcement, the increase in the authorized capital is planned to be made by placing an additional 30 thousand shares with a par value of UAH 1 thousand through additional contributions without a public offering.
The preliminary list of persons among whom the additional shares will be placed is limited to existing shareholders, but the meeting may expand it to include other investors who intend to purchase shares.
The largest shareholder of the PFTS since the beginning of 2022 is Bohai Commodity Exchange (BOCE Co. Limited, Hong Kong) with 49.9% of shares. According to the NSSMC’s disclosure system, there were no other shareholders with a stake of more than 5% at the end of the third quarter of 2023.
At the same time, in mid-October 2023, Prime Holding LLC announced its intention to acquire 2,835 shares of the exchange, which is 8.8566% of its authorized capital.
PFTS did not publish financial statements after 9 months of 2021. According to information from the last annual shareholders’ meeting, the exchange reduced its net loss in 2022 by 8.6% compared to 2021, to UAH 3.641 million.
The volume of trading on the PFTS in 2023, according to the exchange, increased 3.6 times to UAH 320.8 billion, which accounted for 63% of the total trading volume of securities trading organizers in Ukraine, including UAH 28.6 billion in December, or 66% of the total trading volume in the country.
In particular, the volume of trades in government bonds on the PFTS in 2023 increased 3 times to UAH 308.6 billion, corporate bonds of Ukrainian issuers – 20 times to UAH 1 billion (due to the resumption of initial public offerings), bonds of foreign countries – 5 times to UAH 0.7 billion, but transactions in shares were made for only UAH 19.4 million.
In 2023, 15.7% of transactions were made on the order market, 78.7% on the quotation market (including targeted transactions), 5.3% in repo and repo with risk control, and 0.3% in the auction mode.
In December 2023, 39 trading participants on the PFTS concluded transactions with 48 securities issues (Ukrainian government bonds – 33, Ukrainian Eurobonds – 1, corporate bonds of Ukrainian issuers – 7, foreign bonds – 6, shares of Ukrainian issuers – 1), and in total, in 2023, 49 participants concluded transactions with 114 securities issues.
As of January 1, 2024, the number of PFTS members admitted to trading was 51: 30 banks and 21 financial companies. A total of 353 securities issues were admitted to trading on the exchange, of which 119 were in the Exchange Register.
The TOP-5 traders of government bonds on the PFTS in 2023 include state-owned Ukreximbank and PrivatBank, as well as Citibank, OTP Bank and Alliance Bank, while the TOP-5 traders of corporate bonds include TAScombank, Dominant Trade LLC, BTS Broker, Univer Capital and Investment Capital Ukraine.
By the summer of 2024, the Podorozhnyk pharmacy chain plans to expand its network to 2 thousand pharmacies, said Taras Kolyada, CEO of the chain.
“We currently have 1763 pharmacies. In 2023, we opened 400 new pharmacies. By the summer of 2024, we will grow to 2 thousand pharmacies,” he said in an interview with Forbes.
Mr. Kolyada said that the chain is currently expanding at a fairly rapid pace: “In 2019, we opened 486 pharmacies, and now 400 pharmacies a year is a normal rhythm for us.”
At the same time, he noted that “we usually have 150 outlets in back closer – somewhere we are doing repairs and looking for people, somewhere we are signing a contract or waiting for the lease with the previous owner of the premises to end.”
“Landlords perceive a pharmacy as a stable business and are ready to cooperate. We are building the coverage of the country. For us, the key is to penetrate the regions, small towns from Chop to Seredyna-Buda, from Reni to the north of Chernihiv region,” he said.
In addition, Kolyada said that in 2023, sales of Podorozhnyk across all channels increased by 40-50% compared to 2022.
At the same time, Kolyada predicts that in general, “the trend for network expansion in Ukraine is still there, but the redistribution of the market will favor system operators.”
According to Kolyada, the average investment in opening a pharmacy is up to UAH 3.5 million.
Number of dead and wounded civilians in Ukraine from 24.02.2022 till 15.11.2023 un data
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
