The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has left unchanged its forecast for Ukrainian economy growth in 2018 at 3% and expects that the same pace would be retained in 2019, the bank has said in a survey on its website. The bank said that large foreign exchange debt repayments by the public sector falling due in 2018-20 and the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections cycle in 2019 represent important risks to the growth outlook.
Continuation of the IMF (the International Monetary Fund) programme is uncertain due to the lacking commitment on the part of the authorities to meet key reform requirements, the bank said.
The EBRD said that the growth of Ukrainian economy remains subdued.
As reported, the World Bank remained unchanged its forecast for Ukraine’s GDP growth in 2018-2019 at 3.5% and 4% respectively.
However, the bank said that if reforms are delayed, growth could drop below current levels in an uncertain macroeconomic environment as financing risks rapidly increase and GDP growth could slow to 2%.
The IMF retained its forecast for Ukraine’s GDP growth in 2018 at 3.2%, while it reviewed downwards the forecast for 2019 to 3.3% from 4%.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) predicts that Ukraine’s GDP would accelerate in 2018 to 3.4% from 2.5% in 2017 and slow to 2.9% in 2019-2020.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) could sign one more agreement with public joint-stock company Ukrzaliznytsia in 2018 to provide funds to buy wagons. An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that Deputy Director of the EBRD for Ukraine Marina Petrov gave the information at the Ukrainian Infrastructure Forum 2018 in Kyiv.
“We hope that in the near term we will sign one more deal on the purchase of wagons,” she said, not specifying the details of the future agreement.
Petrov also said that the annual total volume of lending in the infrastructure area of Ukraine by the EBRD is up to EUR 300 million.
“We expect that EUR 150-300 million, which we usually make in the transport sector a year, we would make this year,” Petrov said.
As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia seeks to buy around 9,000 new wagons in 2018, including 5,180 from third parties. 3,400 out of 5,180 wagons to be bought from third parties some will be bought using the planned loan of the EBRD.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to implement around 25-30 new financing projects in Ukraine, EBRD Director in Ukraine Sevki Acuner said at a press conference in Kyiv. The bank plans to step up its presence and it is always open for business, he said.
In turn, EBRD Director for Transport Sue Barrett said that three or four projects for EUR 100-200 million will be implemented in the transport and infrastructure spheres.
As reported, the EBRD in 2017 approved projects for EUR 800 million for Ukraine, which is 37% more than a year ago. In 2017, Ukraine became the third largest recipient of EBRD loans following Turkey, which received EUR 1.54 billion in loans, as well as Egypt with EUR 1.41 billion loans. To date, the bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost EUR 12.1 billion across some 400 projects since the start of its operations in the country in 1993.
The European Bank for Recontruction and Development (EBRD) would provide a loan to Nova Poshta, the leader in express delivry in Ukraine, for its development.
The two sides of the loan agreement confirmed their plans. The sum of the loan is not disclosed. The EBRD has not yet posted information about the loan on its website. According to the rules of the bank, it can decide not to publish information about a loan which is smaller than $20 million. The details of the agreement and development plans will be announced at a joint press conference on April 4, 2018. Nova Poshta, founded in 2001, is the leader in the local delivery market. The company’s network consists of more than 2,300 depots. In 2017, Nova Poshta delivered more than 145 million items.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has issued a $5 million loan to Dniprovska agro-industrial group of companies, one of the largest producers of poultry goods in Ukraine, for building a biogas plant. According to information on the bank’s website, the biogas plant will use chicken manure from farms. It is expected that the plant will help optimize energy supply and reduce operating costs.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $5.85 million.
Dniprovska agro-industrial group of companies deals with poultry farming, plant growing and industrial crops processing. The group includes Dniprovsky poultry farm (Dnipropetrovsk region), Zaporizhia poultry farm LLC, Agroproinvest-08 LLC (both based in Zaporizhia region) and other enterprises.
The group manufactures products under the trademarks Dniprovski Kurchata and Znatna Kurka. It delivers products to the markets of the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Oceania under the Ulas and Katkut brand.
The group cultivates more than 15,000 hectares of leased land in Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The main crops are grains, legumes and oilseeds. It also produces sunflower and soybean oil, sunflower and soy meal.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) are extending their support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to EUR 1.15 billion, the EBRD has said in a press release.
A total of almost EUR 1.1 billion is provided in credit lines and trade finance under the EU4Business programme and EUR 58.3 million in EU grants.
The first phase of the SME program foresaw EUR 380 million financing by the EBRD and EUR 19.4 of EU grants.
“We are pleased to announce the extension of our successful programme of access to finance supporting reforms important for the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area to function. The EU4Business-EBRD Credit line has allowed SMEs in sectors such as manufacturing, retail, agriculture and food processing, transport, services and health care to improve their products, strengthen their export potential and adopt EU standards and technical norms,” Deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission Katarína Mathernová said at a high-level conference in Tbilisi on Wednesday.
As reported, the EBRD in 2017 invested EUR 800 million in Ukraine, which is 37% more than a year ago.
