The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has developed a regulation on the transition of the Ukrainian insurance market to European standards to bring insurers’ activities in line with Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the establishment and conduct of insurance and reinsurance activities (Solvency II).
According to the NBU’s website, the regulation on establishing requirements for insurer solvency and investment activities has been developed and proposed for public discussion and consists of two main blocks.
The first block includes requirements for ensuring solvency, in particular, establishes the procedure for calculating regulatory capital and eligible regulatory capital, taking into account restrictions on the composition and structure of eligible assets for their calculation, as well as the procedure for calculating solvency capital. Thus, the minimum capital under the simplified approach for certain categories of insurers, in particular, life insurers and non-life insurers with significant volumes of activities, is set at the level of at least UAH 48 million, and for others – UAH 32 million.
Insurers will apply a simplified approach to calculating solvency capital based on insurance premiums, insurance claims, technical reserves, etc. until 2027.
The second block includes requirements for the insurer’s investment activities, including assets to cover technical reserves and restrictions on investment.
The NBU notes that the regulation will come into force on January 1, 2024, and will provide for a six-month period for insurers to bring their activities in line with the new requirements. After that date, the NBU will not apply any enforcement actions to insurers for violating solvency requirements if they implement their recovery and/or financing plans.
Comments and suggestions on the draft are accepted until December 18, 2023.
The EU Solvency II Directive primarily concerns the amount of capital that insurance companies must hold to reduce the risk of insolvency. The next steps to strengthen the solvency requirements for insurers in Ukraine, according to this directive, will be to determine the procedure for assessing certain categories of eligible assets and to introduce requirements for calculating solvency capital and minimum capital under the basic approach for certain categories of insurers from 2027.
Argentina on Sunday, Nov. 19, elected libertarian Javier Miley, a committed radical to fixing the country’s deep economic crisis, as its new president, Reuters reported.
“According to official results, Miley won almost 56% against 44% for his rival, Peronist economy minister Sergio Massa,” the agency said in a statement.
It is noted that Miley promises to carry out shock therapy of the Argentine economy. He promises to close the central bank, abandon the peso and cut spending – potentially painful reforms that have resonated with voters angered by the economic crisis.
“Argentina’s new president will have to deal with empty government and central bank coffers, a $44 billion International Monetary Fund debt program, and inflation approaching 150%,” the agency stresses.
In addition, Reuters writes, a victory by Miley would change Argentina’s political landscape and economic scheme, and could affect trade in grain, lithium and hydrocarbons. In addition to all this, Miley criticizes China and Brazil, saying he will not deal with “communists” and favors stronger ties with the United States.
Benchmark crude oil prices are rising on Monday morning after a jump last Friday.
The price of January futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 7:11 a.m. was $81.16 per barrel, which is $0.55 (0.68%) higher than at the close of the previous session. Last Friday, these contracts jumped in price by $3.19 (4.1%) to $80.61 per barrel.
Quotes for January futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) at the specified time increased by $0.53 (0.7%) to $76.57 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they rose by $2.99 (4.1%) to $75.89 per barrel.
Due to the active rise on Friday, both brands minimized the weekly decline. Over the past week, Brent prices fell by 1%, WTI – by 1.7%.
The sharp rise in quotations on Friday was caused by rumors that OPEC+ could extend oil production cuts for several months or increase the volume of fuel production cuts.
“Anyone who has been trading oil for at least 10 years will remember the Thanksgiving Day shock of 2014 when OPEC abandoned production quotas and plunged prices from $80 to around $45 per barrel in a matter of weeks,” Sevens Report Research editor Tyler Ritchie told MarketWatch.
“The risks are now tilted in favor of the bulls, as tighter production restrictions will push futures back to $100 per barrel,” he added.
At the same time, data from the oilfield services company Baker Hughes showed that the number of oil rigs operating in the United States increased by six last week, the highest rate since February, and amounted to 500 units. The number of gas rigs, meanwhile, fell by four to 114, the lowest level since early September.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group has handed over another batch of vehicles and UAVs worth about UAH 12 million to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front military initiative.
According to a press release on Friday, Metinvest handed over another batch of aid to support Ukraine’s border guards in their fight against the enemy.
It is specified that the next batch of aid to the military included ten Volkswagen vans and UAVs – five Valkyrie systems, each consisting of two aircraft, and five Mavic 3T quadcopters with a thermal imager.
“The Valkyrie is a complex that is now being heavily used by the State Border Guard Service units both during the day and at night to conduct reconnaissance and adjustments of units. Due to their technical characteristics, UAVs make it possible to operate in areas protected by enemy electronic means and to guide our artillery and assault units,” explained Dmitry Petrenko, a representative of the State Border Guard Service administration, as quoted by the press service.
As for the vehicles, Metinvest managed to find them in Germany. After the purchase, they underwent additional maintenance, all fluids and necessary spare parts were replaced.
“To date, we have handed over more than 50 four-wheel drive beads to the border guards, which are used to patrol large sections of the border. “This is also the fourth batch of Valkyries: in total, we have already handed over about 60 units. Each of these UAVs can cover 100 km, so we can say that border guards are using these “birds” to cover almost all of our borders. Metinvest’s Valkyries are also used in hot areas, such as Bakhmut,” said Oleksandr Vodovviz, Head of the Project Office of Metinvest CEO,
“In total, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Metinvest has allocated UAH 4.2 billion to support Ukraine and Ukrainians. Of this amount, over UAH 2 billion has been spent to help soldiers as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front military initiative. The company has donated 150,000 bulletproof vests, 25,000 helmets and helmets, 80,000 anti-tank hedgehogs, 31,500 turnstiles, 1,500 drones, 2,000 thermal imagers, 500 vehicles and 300 special mobile phones.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The Group’s enterprises are located primarily in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovs’k regions. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
If the sea corridor is fully operational, more than 50% of export shipments in 2024 will be carried by sea, said Yuriy Vaskov, Deputy Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, at Infrastructure Day 2023 organized by the European Business Association in Kyiv on Friday.
“We expect that in 2024, more than 50% of export transportation will be carried out by sea. As was the case with the Grain Initiative when it was in operation, 52% (of shipments) were through the ports of Greater Odesa, and the remaining 48% were through the Danube and Western borders. This will be the case for all industries,” the Deputy Minister said.
According to him, the functioning of the corridor and the Danube ports will help accelerate GDP growth.
“The functioning of the Ukrainian maritime corridor in 2024 will give at least 8% to Ukraine’s GDP growth. If we have +5% in our budget, then if the sea corridor and the Danube are operational, we will have +13% growth. That is why it is important,” Vaskov said.
The deputy minister noted that Ukraine is interested in expanding shipping channels, including by restoring them in the Mykolaiv region. However, the decision will be made depending on the security situation.
“As for the expansion. Of course, we are interested in this. Of course, we will do everything to restore shipping in the Mykolaiv region as soon as possible, but it will depend on the military situation. As long as we have the occupied Kinburn Spit, unfortunately, it is dangerous,” the Deputy Minister said.
Earlier it was reported that 151 vessels have used the Ukrainian sea corridor established by the Ukrainian Navy since August 10, 2023, 121 of which have already used it with 4.4 million tons of export cargo.
Agrarians in all regions of Ukraine harvested 74 million tons of grains and oilseeds – 53.780 million tons and 20.239 million tons, respectively.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on an area of 10104 thousand hectares with a yield of 53.2 c/ha.
It is also specified that by now, Ukraine has completed harvesting and threshing of barley from 1505 thousand hectares (101% of the plan), which yielded 5.890 million tons; wheat – 22.409 million tons from 4695 thousand hectares (101%); peas – 398.2 thousand tons from 154.4 thousand hectares (103%), as well as rapeseed – 4.005 million tons of seeds from 1396 thousand hectares (98%).
The harvest of millet is nearing completion, with 178.9 thou tons harvested from 79 thou hectares (95%), and buckwheat – 206.57 thou tons from 139.2 thou hectares (99%). At the same time, corn was harvested in the amount of 21.218 mln tons from 2932.3 thou hectares (79%).
In addition, other grains and pulses were harvested in the amount of 991 thou tons from 337.4 thou hectares.
Ukraine continues harvesting oilseeds, which have been harvested from a total area of 8139 thou hectares. In particular, sunflower was harvested in the amount of 11.586 mln tons (11.520 mln tons a week earlier) from the area of 4.947 mln hectares (98%), soybeans – 4.750 mln tons (4.713 mln tons) from 1.793 mln hectares (99%).
Sugar beet was harvested from 227.1 thou hectares (211.3 thou hectares a week earlier), which is 91% of the planned area. The harvest amounted to 10.816 million tons.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy also monitors information on crop yields, which amounted to 47.7 c/ha for wheat, 39.2 c/ha for barley, 25.8 c/ha for peas, 22.6 c/ha for millet, and 14.8 c/ha for buckwheat. The yield of corn is 74.2 c/ha, rapeseed – 28.7 c/ha, soybeans – 26.4 c/ha, sunflower – 23.4 c/ha. The yield of sugar beet is 476.2 c/ha.
According to the Ministry, farmers in Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv regions have completed harvesting all crops.
As reported, this season’s winter wheat plantings amounted to 4166 thousand hectares (-834 thousand hectares compared to the previous season), winter barley – 536 thousand hectares (-255 thousand hectares), and rapeseed – 1374 thousand hectares (+110 thousand hectares).
According to the adjusted forecast of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in 2023, farmers will be able to harvest 79.1 mln tons of grains and oilseeds, including the following volumes: wheat – 21.7 mln tons, barley – 5.7 mln tons and corn – 28.5 mln tons. Gross production of oilseeds will reach 21.6 million tons, including 13 million tons of sunflower, 4 million tons of rapeseed, and 4.6 million tons of soybeans. The sugar beet harvest is forecast at 13.7 million tons.
