The Eastern Interregional Main Directorate of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection has imposed restrictions on the import of meat products from Belgium due to the registration of bluetongue disease (ASF) in this country, the agency’s press service reports.
According to the order of the Chief State Veterinary Inspector of Ukraine dated October 13, 2023, the ban applies to the import of animals susceptible to the bluetongue virus and genetic material from them.
Bluetongue is a viral disease of ruminants (small and cattle), also called “bluetongue” or “blue tongue”. It is characterized by lesions of the mucous membranes of the mouth and nasal cavity, swelling of the tongue, swelling of the face, lesions of the extremities, and changes in skeletal muscle.
The disease spreads through insect bites, causing loss of livestock productivity and infertility. Mortality in the herd can reach 70-90%.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has announced the creation of the Ukraine Capacity Development Fund (UCDF) to provide technical assistance with a budget of $65 million over five years, and the Netherlands, Japan, Lithuania and Slovakia have become its first contributors for a total of $14.5 million.
“We are looking for $65 million over five years to expand (Ukraine’s) capacity development in the priority sectors supported by the IMF program. I am pleased to announce that donors have already pledged contributions of approximately $14.5 million. I am confident in your support for this initiative,” Georgieva said after a ministerial roundtable on Ukraine, which took place as part of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, which ended on Sunday in Marrakech.
It is specified that the Netherlands’ contribution to the fund amounted to $7 million.
The official event to launch the fund on the sidelines of the IMF and WB meetings was attended by IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath, Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko, NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyi and his deputy Sergii Nikolaychuk, as well as representatives of the four countries.
“These contributions will support the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities to stabilize macroeconomic conditions and restore the post-war economy while implementing comprehensive reforms that are consistent with Ukraine’s EU accession goals,” the IMF said in a statement announcing the creation of the UCDF.
Pyshny thanked the IMF for launching the new fund. He emphasized the importance of international financial assistance for Ukraine, reforming the Ukrainian economy, and strengthening the institutional capacity of the authorities.
Capacity Development Fund, JAPAN, LITHUANIA, NETHERLANDS, SLOVAKIA
Benchmark oil prices are little changed on Monday morning after rising on Friday and throughout last week.
The price of December futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 8:10 a.m. is $90.92 per barrel, which is $0.03 (0.03%) higher than at the close of the previous session. Last Friday, these contracts increased in price by $4.89 (5.7%) to $90.89 per barrel.
Quotes for November futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time decreased by $0.01 (0.01%) to $87.68 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they rose by $4.78 (5.8%) to $87.69 per barrel.
Over the past week, Brent prices rose by 7.5% and WTI by 5.9%.
The sharp jump in oil prices on Friday was caused by rising geopolitical risks, FXTM’s Lukman Otunuga told MarketWatch.
Meanwhile, data from the oilfield services company Baker Hughes showed that over the past week, the number of active oil rigs in the United States increased by 4 to 501 units. The number of gas rigs decreased by 1 to 117.
The Nova Poshta Group plans to enter six more EU countries by the end of the year, opening its first offices there, said Vyacheslav Klimov, co-owner of Nova Poshta, at the Kyiv International Economic Forum held this week.
“We are expanding. There are already eight countries. There will be six more by the end of this year,” Klimov said.
The company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine that Nova Post will open offices in Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, France, and Austria.
At the forum, Klimov noted that Nova Post offices abroad will be bilingual in local and Ukrainian.
“We have made a firm decision that two languages will be spoken in Nova Post offices in Europe. It will be the local language and Ukrainian,” said the company’s co-owner.
At the forum, he also said that the company’s group allocates about UAH 100 million per month to the needs of the army. Klimov clarified that 3,249 employees of the company are currently serving in the Armed Forces, and 99 colleagues have been killed since the start of the full-scale invasion.
As reported, Nova Post has already opened 62 branches in Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Romania, Germany and Moldova.
As of the beginning of July 2023, the Nova Poshta network in Ukraine included more than 10 thousand branches and more than 14 thousand post offices.
The Group of Companies includes Ukrainian and foreign companies, including Nova Poshta, NP Logistic, NovaPay payment system and Nova Poshta Global.
The average rate of new hryvnia deposits for the corporate sector decreased by 0.9 pp (percentage points) for the second month in a row to 12.5% in September, while for households it remained at around 12.25% per annum after the first decline of 0.5 pp in August for 14 months.
According to the NBU on its website, the yield on foreign currency deposits for individuals also remained unchanged in September at around 1.15% p.a., while the yield on corporate deposits decreased by an average of 0.15 percentage points to 0.58% p.a.
Interbank lending rates, as indicated by the National Bank, fell by 1 percentage point to 17.2% per annum in September, including overnight rates by 0.3 percentage points to 16.4% per annum.
As for the volume of deposits, the gap between corporate and retail deposits continued to narrow in September: while corporate deposits decreased by UAH 12.1 billion, or 1.1%, to UAH 1 trillion 116.3 billion, retail deposits increased by UAH 22.9 billion, or 2.4%, to UAH 999.4 billion.
Households increased their deposits both in hryvnia by 2.5% to UAH 663.7 billion and in foreign currency by 2% to the equivalent of UAH 335.7 billion, while in September, corporate deposits in foreign currency decreased by 5.4% to UAH 340.2 billion, while in hryvnia they increased by 0.8% to UAH 776.1 billion.
The total loan portfolio, which returned to slow growth in July, added another UAH 4.9 billion in September to reach UAH 975.0 billion.
The growth was driven by hryvnia loans to the corporate sector, which increased by 1.9% to UAH 509.6 billion, while foreign currency loans decreased by 1.4% to the equivalent of UAH 230.8 billion.
In September, consumer loans decreased both in national currency by 0.3% to UAH 202.4 billion and in foreign currency by 0.4% to the equivalent of UAH 12.5 billion.
As reported, on September 15, the NBU cut the discount rate from 22% to 20% per annum, while reducing the rate on three-month deposit certificates from 22% to 20%, while the rate on overnight deposit certificates decreased from 18% to 16%.
Inflation in Ukraine in annual terms slowed to 7.1% in September from 8.6% in August and 11.3% in July.
Israel has postponed the start of a ground military operation in the Gaza Strip for several days, partly due to the weather, The New York Times (NYT) reports, citing sources in the Israeli Defense Forces.
“The invasion was originally planned for the weekend, the officers said, but was postponed for several days, at least in part because of weather conditions that would make it difficult for Israeli pilots and drone operators to provide air cover for ground troops,” the publication says.
The NYT writes that the military confirmed that reconnaissance teams briefly entered the Gaza Strip on Friday and that Israeli troops are increasing their “readiness” for a ground war.
It is believed that tens of thousands of Hamas militants are holed up in hundreds of kilometers of underground tunnels and bunkers under Gaza City and adjacent areas of the northern part. Israeli military leaders expect Hamas to try to impede their advance by blowing up some of these tunnels as the Israelis advance over them, as well as by detonating roadside bombs and mining buildings.
The NYT quoted three Israeli officers who provided some details about Israeli military preparations. In particular, “to facilitate the actions of Israeli soldiers, rules of engagement have been relaxed, allowing soldiers to conduct fewer checks before firing at perceived enemies.”
Also, the NYT writes, due to the widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip caused by recent Israeli air strikes, Israeli soldiers have received additional training in recent days to help them fight in the devastated urban environment.
