The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide an additional EUR300 million loan to Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) for the purchase of 80 modern electric freight locomotives, the UZ press service said on Wednesday.
The agreement, which the company announced in late May, was backed by a memorandum between Ukrzaliznytsia, the EBRD and the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure, which was signed in Berlin on the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2024).
“The issue of renewing the locomotive fleet for Ukrzaliznytsia is critical and crucial (…) Obtaining new and high-tech electric locomotives will significantly increase the efficiency of freight transportation,” said Yevhen Lyashchenko, chairman of the board of UZ.
At the end of May, the company announced the allocation of a $190 million grant from the United States through the World Bank Trust Fund as part of the Restoration of Critical Logistics Infrastructure and Network Connectivity (RELINC) project.
The proposal for the purchase of 80 electric locomotives with a total value of about $400 million has already been published on the EBRD tender portal. The tender requirements stipulate that the winner, in addition to supplying the locomotives, must create conditions for their maintenance and warranty repair in Ukraine.
One of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, JV Nibulon LLC, and Pravex Bank, part of the Intesa Sanpaolo group, have entered into a bilateral agreement to extend the restructuring of a $5.5 million loan for six years with preferential interest rates and a grace period for debt repayment, the grain trader’s press service reported on its Facebook page.
“PRAVEX Bank approaches each case of debt restructuring individually, taking into account the specifics of the business and the needs of its clients. This approach allows us to provide the most effective financial solutions and maintain stable partnerships,” commented Yuriy Lytvynenko, Director of the bank’s Loan Management Department.
Nibulon noted that the loan restructuring will help it optimize its financial flows and focus on implementing strategic projects aimed at strengthening and developing the agricultural sector of Ukraine.
“We are confident that this step will be an important incentive for the company’s further growth and prosperity, strengthening our market position and contributing to the country’s economic development,” said Nibulon’s CFO Irina Levkovskaya.
As reported earlier, Nibulon Group has more than 25 Ukrainian and foreign creditors, with the vast majority of whom have already signed restructuring agreements.
Nibulon JV LLC was established in 1991. Prior to the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and crop reception complexes, capacity to store 2.25 million tons of agricultural products at a time, a fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugs), and owned the Mykolaiv Shipyard.
“Before the war, Nibulon cultivated 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries. In 2021, the grain trader exported the highest ever volume of 5.64 million tons of agricultural products, reaching record volumes of supplies to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons, and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Nibulon’s losses due to Russia’s full-scale military invasion in 2022 exceeded $416 million.
Currently, the grain trader is operating at 32% of capacity, has created a special unit to clear agricultural land of mines, and was forced to move its headquarters from Mykolaiv to Kyiv.
In 2024, state-owned Ukrgasbank (Kyiv) provided UAH 40 million in loans to farmers working in high-risk military areas, up from UAH 120 million a year earlier, said Tetyana Korinenko, director of the Small and Medium Business Department.
“Of course, a client who wants to get a loan must meet the bank’s requirements. A very negative factor for a significant share of clients who would like to receive financing is (requirement – IF-U) to be located in a safe territory. We also have requirements that the client must operate in an area no more than 50 km from the front line. But we also have cases using guarantee instruments provided by the state in the form of a guarantee from the Cabinet of Ministers and the Partial Guarantee Fund. We have already come closer to 22 km to the front line,” she said at Grain Ukraine in Kyiv on Friday.
According to Kornienko, Ukrgasbank has four clients from the agricultural sector in Kherson region who received loans to operate within a 30-kilometer zone from the military operations. In their case, state guarantee instruments cover 50-80% of the loan issued by the bank.
“This is a cool tool that allows us to help clients from the agricultural sector who work as close as possible to the area of active military operations,” the expert said.
Kornienko clarified that in 2024, Ukrgasbank lent about UAH 40 million to farmers working in the high military risk zone. A year earlier, this figure was 120 million.
“Of course, this is not much compared to our annual UAH 5 billion loans to the agricultural sector. But with each such client, we understand that we are giving the market an impetus, showing that it is possible to work in this way. It is also possible to have credit relations with such clients. And this risk is acceptable thanks to government instruments,” summarized the Ukrgasbank representative.
JSB “Ukrgasbank” was established in 1993. The state, represented by the Ministry of Finance, owns 94.9409% of the financial institution’s shares.
State-owned Oschadbank (Kyiv) has entered into a UAH 26.5 million loan agreement with spice exporter and producer Natur Svit, and provided an UAH 8 million grant under the e-Work program to Sumy Textile Company, the bank’s chairman of the board, Serhiy Naumov, said on Facebook.
He clarified that the loan to Natur-Svit was issued under the state program “Affordable Loans 5-7-9%” and in cooperation with the Export Credit Agency (ECA) as part of the initiative to insure foreign economic contracts.
According to Naumov, the grant to Sumy Textile Company, which produces hosiery, was provided in the area of processing.
The Oschadbank CEO noted that over the past year, the financial institution’s loan portfolio for MSMEs in Sumy region grew by 29% to almost UAH 1 billion, and the bank’s market share in the region was 25% at the beginning of the year.
According to the Clarity Project, Natur Svit (Kyiv) was registered in November 2008, with Andriy Inshyn listed as the ultimate beneficiary. The company’s revenue in 2023 decreased by 10.9% to UAH 220.8 million, while net profit increased by 4.7% to UAH 29.5 million.
According to the Clarity Project, Sumy Textile Company’s revenue in 2023 decreased by 34.9% to UAH 151.1 million, while net profit decreased by 4.6 times to UAH 7.47 million. The company was registered in April 2022 and is owned and operated by Oleksandr Karpov.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of February 1 this year, Oschadbank ranked second in terms of total assets (UAH 369.56 billion) among 63 banks operating in the country.
Ukraine will receive a EUR100 million loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank for the eRecovery project, said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction of Ukraine and Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure.
“Plus EUR 100 million in compensation for destroyed housing from the Council of Europe Development Bank. The relevant decision was made by the Bank’s Administrative Board, and negotiations are underway to sign a Framework Loan Agreement. This amount will be enough to receive more than 2,000 housing certificates for Ukrainians whose homes were destroyed as a result of Russian military aggression,” he wrote on Facebook.
As reported, the Administrative Board of the Council of Europe Development Bank (EBRD) approved the project “NOME. Compensation for Destroyed Property” at a meeting on March 25-26, under which it provided Ukraine with EUR 100 million.
The eRestoration program was launched in Ukraine on May 10, 2023, and owners of damaged housing began receiving compensation of up to UAH 200,000 for repairs. These funds can be used to purchase building materials, pay for construction work and services of contractors who have the appropriate codes to work and whose vendors have applied for participation in the program through the Diia portal. In December, payments for major repairs of damaged residential property were launched – up to a maximum of UAH 350 thousand for an apartment and UAH 500 thousand for a private house. Starting January 1, 2024, Ukrainians who have repaired their homes at their own expense will be eligible to receive compensation for damaged housing.
On August 1, 2023, Diia started accepting applications for compensation for housing destroyed by the war. Compensation will be paid to individual owners of housing that was destroyed due to hostilities after February 24, 2022, cannot be restored and is located in the unoccupied territory and not in the area of active hostilities.
On December 27, 2023, Diia started issuing housing certificates. Since the launch of the state compensation program, more than 11,000 applications have been submitted, and since January, 1637 Ukrainian families have already purchased new homes for a total of UAH 3.4 billion.
Ukraine’s state budget has received a $230 million loan from the Japanese government under the World Bank’s Emergency Project for Inclusive Support for the Recovery of Agriculture in Ukraine (ARISE), the Finance Ministry said on Friday evening.
“In the conditions of war, agriculture suffers significant losses, which, in turn, jeopardizes food security not only in Ukraine but also around the world. Raising funds under ARISE is an important contribution to providing access to financing for the agricultural business of Ukraine,” Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said in a release.
It is specified that the funds were raised from the Trust Fund for the Promotion of the Necessary Expansion of Credit for Ukraine (ADVANCE Ukraine).
The Ministry of Finance recalled that the ARISE project aims to support farmers’ access to finance through concessional lending (compensation for costs under the 5-7-9 program) and improve small farms’ access to finance through grants.
The amount of project funding is currently $550 million, of which $500 million will be used to finance the state program “Affordable Loans 5-7-9%” in 2023-2024 with a focus on agricultural enterprises, and almost $50 million is provided for grants for small farmers.
As reported, on March 20, Ukraine received the first tranche of EUR4.5 billion from the EU under the Ukraine Facility program and $1.5 billion from Canada, while before that, all external revenues amounted to only $1.2 billion since the beginning of the year. In addition, on Friday night, the IMF Board of Directors approved the disbursement of the fourth tranche of the EFF Extended Fund Facility program to Ukraine, which should arrive in two to three days.
According to the National Bank, Ukraine may receive external financing worth $10 billion or even more from mid-March to the end of April, against the $37.3 billion required in the state budget for the entire year.
