Ukrainian enterprises are now producing two thousand lower limb prostheses and 200 upper limb prostheses in one month, according to Oksana Zholnovych, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine.
“On average, according to the statistics collected, all enterprises produce more than 2,000 lower limb prostheses and about 200 upper limb prostheses per month,” Zholnovych said during a national telethon on Wednesday.
According to her, almost 80 enterprises are engaged in the production of prostheses in Ukraine, while at the beginning of the full-scale invasion there were about 40 of them. The head of the department also noted that not only the number of enterprises has increased, but also the production volumes of the previously operating ones.
“They are now working to the maximum. I think they will continue to expand. But I would not say that there are long waiting lists (for prostheses – IF-U),” the minister added.
Zholnovych also noted that over 20 thousand people, both civilians and military, have been prosthetized in Ukraine over the past two years.
As reported, in October, the website of the Ministry of Social Policy launched an information panel with a list of prosthetic companies and other manufacturers of rehabilitation aids.
Despite the reduction in the number of financial companies and pawnshops in July-September 2023, the segment’s assets, on the contrary, increased by 5.8%, according to the “Review of the Non-Banking Financial Sector. November 2023”.
According to the report, the volume of financial services provided increased in all major types, with the exception of factoring, which remained unchanged.
The regulator notes that the issuance of new loans to households in January-September this year decreased by 40% compared to the same period in 2021.
At the same time, the volume of financial leasing, which is mainly provided by legal entities – lessors, has been growing for the fifth consecutive quarter. New leasing agreements were concluded for the purchase of cars, agricultural machinery, and trucks. The sources of leasing financing are lessors’ equity and advance payments. The gradual recovery of basic financial services resulted in UAH 7.4 billion of profit in January-September 2023, of which more than half was generated by the state-owned institution Ukrfinzhytlo, the operator of the eHouse program, whose main income comes from interest payments on government bonds in the capital. Profitability was demonstrated by 72% of financial companies.
The NBU also notes that pawnshops continued to recover in the third quarter. The volume of assets and new loans increased slightly. Pawnshops’ revenues grew slowly, which made it possible to generate profits and improve profitability. Equity has increased by 9% since the beginning of the year due to profits from operations.
According to the regulator, the number of non-banking financial services providers decreased once again in the third quarter. The registry excluded 33 financial companies, eight credit unions, six pawnshops and four insurers. Most of the financial institutions left the market by voluntarily giving up their licenses.
In addition, two financial companies were removed from the register in accordance with the requirements of the Law on Payment Services and entered into the Register of Payment Infrastructure as payment institutions.
In the third quarter, the assets of non-bank financial services increased by 5.2% quarter-on-quarter and by 11.9% year-on-year. Assets grew in all market segments, but most rapidly in financial companies.
The share of non-bank financial institutions in the financial sector assets supervised by the NBU increased by 0.2 pp to 11.1% over the quarter.
Pharmacy sales in Ukraine in January-October 2023 increased by 26.74% compared to the same period in 2022 to UAH 157.997 billion, in physical terms – by 4.12%, to 1044 million packages.
As Business Credit told Interfax-Ukraine, the weighted average price of pharmacy basket goods in the first ten months of 2023 amounted to UAH 151.23, which is 21.7% more than a year earlier.
Pharmacy sales of medicines in ten months increased by 26.17% to almost UAH 123.604 billion. In physical terms, the retail pharmaceutical market grew by 6.78% to 739.212 million packs. The weighted average retail price of medicines for 10 months of 2023 amounted to UAH 167.21, which is 18.16% more than a year earlier.
As reported, in January-June 2023, pharmacy sales increased by 19% in monetary terms compared to the same period in 2022 – up to UAH 84.126 billion, but in physical terms decreased by 10.4% to 612.11 million packs. The weighted average price of pharmacy basket products in the first half of 2023 amounted to UAH 137.44, which is 33% higher than in the same period of 2022.
Pharmacy sales of medicinal products in the first half of the year amounted to UAH 65.96 billion in monetary terms (up 16.9%), while in physical terms they decreased by 8.12% to 430.899 million packs.
Benchmark oil prices are little changed on Wednesday morning, as investors await a meeting of OPEC+ ministers.
The price of January futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 7:15 a.m. is $81.68 per barrel, the same as at the close of the previous session. The day before, these contracts rose in price by $1.70 (2.1%) to $81.68 per barrel.
Quotes for January futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time increased by 15 cents to $76.56 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they rose by $1.55 (2.1%) to $76.41 per barrel.
The meeting of OPEC+ ministers will be held online on November 30, although it was originally planned to hold the meeting in person in Vienna on November 26.
The future direction of oil prices largely depends on whether OPEC+ can “demonstrate continued unity within the group and commitment to stabilizing oil prices in the long term,” Sevens Report Research analysts wrote.
The OPEC+ countries are likely to extend the existing oil production restrictions with minimal changes until the end of the first quarter of 2024, according to Citi analysts. They estimate the probability of maintaining production at the same level at 60-70%, large-scale reductions in fuel supplies at about 20%, and an increase in production at 10-20%.
In addition, investors are studying signals about changes in energy reserves in the United States. According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), last week the US reserves decreased by 817 thousand barrels.
Official data from the US Department of Energy will be published at 17:30 on Wednesday.
Borschagivsky Chempharmzavod PJSC (BCPZ, Kyiv) has reduced its net profit by 24.8% to UAH 254.275 mln by the end of 2022.
As the company reported in the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NCSSM), the company’s shareholders will consider the financial results for 2021-2022 at a remote meeting on December 26.
The meeting will also consider the payment of dividends for 2022 in the amount of UAH 34.158 mln, the amount of dividends per share will be UAH 3,300. Dividends are expected to be paid directly to shareholders to their bank accounts by June 26, 2024.
As reported, BHFZ’s net profit for 2020 increased by 1.7 times to UAH 332.847 mln compared to 2019.
As of the first quarter of 2023, 31.8% of BHFZ shares belong to the pharmaceutical company PJSC “Pharmaceutical firm “Darnitsa” (Kiev). According to the Opendatabot system, the ultimate beneficiaries of BHFZ are also the beneficiary of Darnitsa Pharmaceutical Company Gleb Zagoriy, Yevhen Sova and Tetyana Artemenko.
Forecast of dynamics of changes in ukrainian GDP in % for 2022-2025 in relation to previous period
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
