The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched a new GROW project to support Ukrainian credit unions, according to the USAID website.
“Through a partnership with the World Council of Credit Unions, USAID will expand support for Ukrainian credit unions, enabling them to provide more loans to businesses and individual entrepreneurs,” the report said.
The initiative begins this month and will last for the next four years. The initial investment of resources will be $5 million.
The GROW project will work closely with credit unions in Ukraine to create products and partnerships that will maximize credit union outreach to Ukrainians and positively impact local communities and local economies. The project will also increase access to finance for Ukrainians seeking to start their own businesses and businesses wishing to expand their operations, particularly for micro, small and medium enterprises, cooperatives and agro-producers in rural areas of the country.
In addition, the project will support Ukraine’s long-term priorities for further integration and EU accession, in particular harmonization of the regulatory framework for credit unions with relevant EU requirements.
Since the beginning of 2024, the clients of JSC OTP BANK – individuals – have purchased domestic government bonds for a total amount of UAH 3.1 billion.
The number of transactions in the first half of the year amounted to 1897, which is 137% more than in the same period of 2023.
Investments in domestic government bonds in 2024 were made in two ways: customers purchased bonds directly at auctions of the Ministry of Finance through the OTP Bank UA app or from the Bank’s own portfolio, also using the app.
During the first and second quarters, securities totaling UAH 2.8 billion in equivalent were purchased at the Ministry of Finance auctions.
Total sales from the Bank’s portfolio by the end of the second quarter amounted to UAH 305 million in equivalent.
We remind you that the service for purchasing government bonds from its own portfolio in the OTP Bank UA application was launched two months ago, at the end of May 2024.
“Investing in domestic government bonds is not only an opportunity to support Ukraine’s financial stability in times of war, but also a good opportunity to diversify your savings and earn additional income in both hryvnia and foreign currency. Moreover, the repayment of funds is fully guaranteed by the state, so it is also a guarantee of the safety of savings. We offer our customers different ways to invest – they can buy government bonds directly from the auction or at any convenient time from the Bank’s portfolio, with the best rate, maturity, in the chosen currency, 24/7,” said Valeria Ovcharuk, product owner of OTP BANK.
In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, OTP Bank’s individual clients have invested more than UAH 11.5 billion in government bonds in equivalent.
To learn more about investing in government bonds through the OTP Bank UA app, please follow the link.
Commercial real estate restoration projects account for up to 20% of Ukraine’s construction market, Andriy Ozeychuk, director of Rauta engineering and construction company, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Despite the military risks, the owners of most of the destroyed commercial real estate are investing in their restoration to restart their businesses, which allows companies to continue to operate efficiently. In particular, about 80% of commercial facilities destroyed during the full-scale invasion and located far from the war zone have already been rebuilt or are in the process of being rebuilt,” he said.
According to Mr. Ozeychuk, the figure is lower in the segment of industrial and warehouse buildings, at about 40%.
“For most of these facilities, the owners are looking for financing,” explained the Rauta director.
According to him, among the restoration projects Rauta was involved in were the Retroville shopping center (Kyiv), the production shop of the Chernihiv Automobile Plant, and the Novus supermarket in Bucha (Kyiv region).
Rauta’s experience in restoring commercial real estate shows that often an additional requirement of investors during the restoration of facilities is to improve their energy efficiency and architectural attractiveness, which allows them to optimize costs during the operation of buildings.
According to the World Bank, as of February 2024, Ukraine’s reconstruction needs were estimated at $486 billion, of which about 25% were commercial real estate.
Rauta is a leading provider of reliable construction solutions in Ukraine and the European Union.
According to Opendatabot, Rauta Group LLC was registered in Ukraine in 2014. Its authorized capital is UAH 388 thousand, and its revenue for 2022 is UAH 102.396 million.
Zaporizhstal Iron and Steel Works of Zaporizhzhia has overhauled continuous pickling unit (CPU) No. 4 in the Cold Rolling Shop (CRS) to avoid production downtime.
According to the company’s press release on Tuesday, Metinvest Promservice specialists and rolling mill operators replaced a number of parts of the unit. The repair also included replacing the drive axle of the trolley at the coil preparation area before it is fed to the BTA-4 line.
“An important effect of this repair is preventive maintenance of the equipment, prevention of unit downtime and ensuring stable operation,” the company said in a statement.
“Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine, whose products are in great demand among consumers both in the domestic market and in many countries around the world.
“Zaporizhstal is in the process of integration into Metinvest Group, whose major shareholders are System Capital Management (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%).
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Ukraine currently feeds 400 million people in the world, and the country has the capacity to feed 600 million, said Penny Pritzker, the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery.
“Ukraine’s agriculture feeds 400 million people in the world, and it has the capacity to feed 600 million. That’s a huge opportunity, and now that the Black Sea is functioning, you’re seeing huge exports of not only agricultural products, but also metals, which has also helped to increase government revenues and helped to grow the economy,” she said at a briefing in Kyiv, answering questions about sectors that are ready for investment now.
The Special Representative emphasized that the energy sector is another major area of opportunity, as well as construction, transportation and logistics, and technology.
In addition, she said, critical minerals are another industry that offers great opportunities in Ukraine. Pritzker named defense industry and technology as two other areas.
Moldova’s incumbent President Maia Sandu is leading the ranking of potential candidates for the October 30 elections, according to an opinion poll presented at a press conference on Tuesday.
According to the poll, if the presidential election were held next Sunday, 30.3% of respondents would vote for Sandu, 13% for the head of the Socialist Party, Igor Dodon (who has already announced that he will not run); 6.5% – for the leader of Our Party Renato Usatîi; 5.6% – for the former bashkan of Gagauzia Iryna Vlah; 5.4% – for the mayor of Chisinau Ion Ceban, who, like Dodon, has stated that he does not intend to run.
Almost one in five respondents said they had not yet decided who they would vote for. If we take into account only the voters who have decided, 39.3% are ready to vote for Sandu, 16.9% for Dodon, and 8.5% for Usatîi.
Former prosecutor Alexandru Stoianoglo, whom the Socialist Party decided to nominate as an opposition candidate, gained 1% in the poll.
“Stoyanoglo recently announced his intention to run. He was not included in the list of presidential candidates, and this 1% is those who named Stoyanoglo on their own. It is possible that Stoyanoglo’s rating may be significantly higher now,” said Vasyl Kantarzhy, director of the CBS-Reserarch sociological company.
Speaking about the level of trust in politicians, he noted that when asked an open question about trust in politicians, 21.3% of respondents named Sandu, 7.2% – Dodon and 4.6% – fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor. They are followed by the head of the Our Party, Usatîi (3.3%), and the mayor of Chisinau, Ceban (3.2%).
At the same time, 38.2% of respondents said they did not trust any of the politicians.
The poll was conducted by CBS-Reserarch on behalf of the Institute for European Policy and Reform. The survey was conducted on June 28-July 18 with the participation of 1119 people. The margin of error is 2.9%.
Earlier, the Experts Club think tank and Maksim Urakin presented an analytical material on the most important elections in the world in 2024, a more detailed video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/73DB0GbJy4M?si=eGb95W02MgF6KzXU
