In 2023, the State Service for Transport Safety (Ukrtransbezpeka) generated a record amount of revenues to the state budget – UAH 637 million, which is 3.1 times more than in 2022.
This was announced by the head of the service, Yevhen Zborovsky, at a press conference dedicated to the publication of Ukrtransbezpeka’s public report for the past year.
“These are record figures in the history of the State Service of Ukraine for Transport Safety. We can see a comparison with 2022… (in 2022, Ukrtransbezpeka generated UAH 205.1 million in budget revenues – IF-U),” the head of the service said.
He clarified that most of the amount is made up of fines and penalties. Last year, they were imposed for more than UAH 800 million.
The revenue figure is UAH 378 million from penalties imposed during raids. In particular, UAH 329 million from raid inspections involving freight transport and UAH 49 million from inspections involving transport engaged in freight transportation. In 2022, the amount of revenues amounted to UAH 111 million and UAH 10.5 million, respectively.
In addition, the budget received UAH 228 million in fines from auto-fixation of violations of dimensional and weight parameters recorded by Weight-in-Motion vehicle weighing systems.
Zborovsky noted that the UAH 637 million revenue figure is twice the amount allocated from the state budget for the maintenance of Ukrtransbezpeka, including salaries to employees.
The head of the service also noted that more violations were recorded last year, both in the freight and passenger transportation segments.
“In both situations, we see that there has been an increase in the number of violations detected. Indeed, compared to 2022, the country’s economy began to recover in 2023. The number of transportation began to grow, and at the same time, the number of violations increased,” Zborovsky said.
Ukrtransbezpeka also reported that the right to install wheel locks on vehicles and accompany them to the weight control point, which was granted last year, contributed to the increase in the efficiency of its work in 2023. Violations of weight and size parameters are recorded using WIM systems – 50 such systems have been installed in 20 regions, mostly on roads built in 2020-2021.
Changes in consolidated budget expenditures in 2021-2023 (%)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Ukrainian manufacturer of individual reinforced concrete structures (RCS) company “Oberbeton”, which has a plant in Zhytomyr, will build a second plant for the production of large-size RCS on the territory of Mikulinetska municipality in Ternopil region, according to the municipality’s Facebook page.
According to the report, at the end of last week, the first working meeting of the investor’s representatives with the local community was held, where the production capacity and products of the future plant were presented.
In the near future it is planned to sign a memorandum and start preparatory and construction works at the site.
“For more than two years we, together with the investment office of the region, have been trying to attract both foreign and domestic investors to the community. The determining factor in the choice of our community by the investor was the availability of a land plot with developed infrastructure, capacity reserves, logistics, human resources,” – is noted in the message.
It is specified that the company-investor for a long time was looking for options for the construction of the second plant, and considered, in particular, the possibility of placement in Ternopil, Lviv, Volyn, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
“Thanks to such powerful investors, the total amount of direct investment in the region will increase by more than UAH 1 billion and more than 150 new jobs will be created. This is one of the largest investments in the Ternopil region,” the community said in a statement.
As expected, the average salary at the plant will be at least 20-22 thousand UAH.
Other parameters of the project are not given in the report, but it is noted that the products will be similar to those produced at the plant “Oberbeton-Invest” in Zhytomyr.
According to the information on the company’s website, the plant “Oberbeton-Invest”, built in 2008, is one of the largest enterprises in Ukraine, has a full range of equipment of leading European companies.
Among the implemented projects are shopping and shopping and entertainment complexes (including Novus supermarkets and Auchan hypermarket, Oasis shopping mall in Kiev, Epicenter construction hypermarkets in Kiev and Kherson), logistics and industrial facilities, residential and administrative complexes, agricultural enterprises.
Oberbeton-Invest LLC was registered in Zhytomyr in 2007 with authorized capital of UAH 433.78 mln, the owner of 100%, according to YouControl data, is Oberbeton Holdings Limited, registered in Cyprus, and the ultimate beneficiary is Yakov Filkenstein, an Israeli citizen.
The central office is located in Kiev.
According to the data of the system Klaritu, in January-September last year, Oberbeton-Invest LLC received 31.4 million UAH of net profit – 10% less than in the same period of 2022, while net income grew by 7% – to 213.5 million UAH.
At the same time, according to the company’s report on its website, in 2022 it reduced net profit by 9 times to pre-war 2021 – to 32.2 million UAH with net income falling by a third – to 259 million UAH.
By early 2023, the company employed more than 220 people.
Since the beginning of 2024, Ukraine has exported 3.7 million tons of cargo through the Danube ports, of which 2.5 million tons are grains and oil, said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine, Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development.
“Despite the record volumes of the Ukrainian Sea Corridor, the Danube ports have growth potential,” he said.
According to Kubrakov, in particular, the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company has started offering container delivery to the Danube ports of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and the Romanian port of Constanta, bypassing the border with Poland.
Interfax-Ukraine does not have comparative information on the volume of exports through Danube ports for the same period in 2023, but it is known that in February last year they handled 2.2 million tons of cargo, in March – 2.8 million tons, and for the whole year – 29 million tons.
The day before, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced Ukraine’s intention to expand the export capacity of the Danube cluster from 33 million tons of cargo in 2023 to 35-40 million tons.
World central banks in January, according to preliminary estimates of the World Gold Council (WGC), purchased in gold and foreign exchange reserves of 39 tons of gold.
This is more than double the specified volumes of December (16.9 tons) and makes January the eighth consecutive month of growth, notes WGC analyst Krishan Gopaul in his review.
The largest buyers in January were again Turkey (11.8 tons) and China (10 tons). Also bought gold in reserves India (8.7 tons), Kazakhstan (6.2 tons), Jordan (3.1 tons), Czech Republic (1.7 tons) and others.
Significant sales were reported only by the Central Bank of Russia (3.1 tons, according to WGC). This repeats a trend since 2021, Gopaul notes: a decline in stocks of about 3 tons followed by replenishment. “We believe this activity is related to the country’s coinage program,” he explains.
In 2023, the insurance company “Knyazha Life Insurance Group” (Kyiv) collected UAH 64.4 million of insurance payments, which is 6.69% more than in 2022.
This is reported on the website of the rating agency Standard-Rating, which confirmed the financial strength rating/credit rating of the company at uaAA+ at the end of 2023.
The volume of insurance payments and reimbursements made by the company in 2023 amounted to UAH 34.352 million, which is 2.1 times higher than in 2022. Thus, the insurer’s claims ratio increased by 26.21 p.p. to 53.38%.
In 2023, the insurer’s acquisition expenses decreased by 6.55% compared to 2022 – to UAH 9.459 million.
The insurer’s net profit for 2023 amounted to UAH 35.128 million, while in 2022 it made a net loss. This is due to the recalculation of 2022 figures for the purpose of their comparability in connection with the first application of IFRS 9 and IFRS 17.
As of January 1, 2024, the company’s assets increased by 12.65% to UAH 797.322 million, equity showed an increase of 40.24% to UAH 274.978 million, liabilities – by 2.07% to UAH 522.344 million, funds and their equivalents decreased by 30.09% to UAH 2.504 million (the decrease is due to an increase in current financial investments).
The Agency notes that as of the beginning of 2024, the company’s equity capital covered 52.64% of the insurer’s liabilities, and 0.48% of its liabilities were secured by cash and cash equivalents.
Last year, the insurer formed a portfolio of financial investments in the amount of UAH 783.353 million, which included bank deposits (UAH 133.2 million) and investments in government bonds (UAH 650.153 million). Thus, as of the beginning of 2024, liquid assets (cash and cash equivalents, bank deposits and government bonds) covered 150.45% of the insurer’s liabilities, which indicates a very high level of liquidity of the company.
RA emphasizes that a high level of external support for the company is provided by its shareholder, Vienna Insurance Group Wiener Städtische Versicherung AG, an international insurance group headquartered in Austria, represented by 50 companies in 30 countries and a leader in the insurance market of Central and Eastern Europe.
