The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with partial support from the European Union, is providing Ukraine’s Kredobank with a EUR25m guarantee to cover the risks of new lending, as well as a EUR25m Trade Facilitation Program (TFP) loan for trade finance to Ukrainian clients.
“The new risk-sharing agreement will allow Credobank to reduce the funding gap, and continued access to financing will help companies to remove bottlenecks in trade in food and agricultural products,” – quoted in the message on Wednesday the words of the EBRD Managing Director in the sector of financial institutions Francis Malizh.
It is noted that the new financing will be available to companies operating in such critical sectors as primary agriculture and agricultural services, food processing, transportation and logistics, retail and pharmaceuticals.
Under the risk-sharing agreement, which the two institutions with prior cooperation experience signed on Wednesday in London, the EBRD is providing a EUR25m unfunded risk-sharing instrument that covers 50% of the credit risk on Kredobank’s new financing totaling EUR100m, but not more than 50% of the portfolio. The EBRD guarantee is provided in two equal tranches.
In addition, EUR15m of the total EUR100m portfolio covered by the guarantee will be available to finance long-term investments by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in technologies and equipment meeting EU standards, including investments in sustainable and green technologies under the EU Eastern Partnership SME Competitiveness Program (EaP SMEC), the EBRD said.
He added that participation in the EaP SMEC program will also allow Kredobank and its clients to receive expert assistance in the form of training and advisory support. Eligible borrowers will also receive grant support in the form of investment incentives upon completion of their investment projects.
The EBRD guarantee is backed by a 50% first-loss coverage guarantee financed by donors as part of the sustainability package. The conclusion of this new agreement increases to EUR468 million the total amount of funding supported by such guarantees since the beginning of the war.
As for the EUR25mn under the Trade Facilitation Program, the lender notes that participation in this program will allow Kredobank to increase its support to Ukrainian exporters and importers.
Kredobank is one of the leading banks in western Ukraine and as of the beginning of June it ranks 14th (UAH 46.85 bln) out of 65 operating banks in Ukraine in terms of assets. Kredobank is fully owned by PKO Bank Polski SA, the largest systemically important bank in Poland, whose shares are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Ukraine will receive a $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank (WB) under the guarantees of the Japanese government, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said.
“Only the relevant agreement was signed by the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance during our meeting with World Bank Vice President Antonella Bassani,” Shmygal wrote in Telegram on Thursday.
According to him, the funds are envisaged to strengthen social protection, help people during the war and restore the economy.
The head of the Ukrainian government said that in total, the WB group together with partners mobilized $34 billion to help Ukraine, of which more than $22 billion has already entered the budget.
“We are especially grateful for PEACE in Ukraine, the largest investment project in the Bank’s history, which helps finance social payments and pensions. We appreciate our close cooperation and look forward to further joint projects for the reconstruction and development of Ukraine,” Shmygal wrote.
State-owned “Ukrgasbank” provided “Karpaty” Experimental Mechanical Plant (OMZ) wagon building enterprise (Lviv region) with a two-year loan to the amount of UAH 170 mln, including UAH 60 mln granted under the state program “Available loans 5-7-9%”, as press-service of the bank informed.
According to a press release on Monday, such support from Ukrgasbank allowed the company to provide itself with orders, maintain its staff (more than 600 employees) and stable tax revenues to the budget.
“Since the beginning of the war, Ukrgasbank continues to support the national railcar industry by providing financing for the working capital of OMZ Karpaty LLC,” the statement said.
According to the bank, since the beginning of 2023, OMZ Karpaty has built 392 cars, including 291 grain cars, 35 gondola cars, 64 cement cars and two platforms. The company is also developing a new direction – repair of diesel locomotives.
Besides, the production is diversified in the direction of press-compactors production, which are exported to the EU.
The main activities of OMZ Karpaty LLC are construction of freight cars, repair of rolling stock, production of tank containers, tanks, metal structures and hydraulic elevators.
According to the resource opendatabot, in 2022 the company’s income increased by 2.9 times against 2021, to 1 billion 231.5 million UAH, net profit was 13.4 million UAH against a loss of 2.67 million UAH a year earlier.
According to the NBU on May 1, 2023, Ukrgasbank with assets of UAH 164.38 billion ranked 5th among the 65 operating banks in the country.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending EUR10.6 million to the municipal enterprise (CE) Electrotrans (Khmelnitsky) to finance the purchase of new trolleybuses, as well as equipment for maintenance and diagnostics, according to a press release from the bank.
The EBRD loan is part of a financing package that also includes investment grants from the EU Neighbourhood Investment Platform of up to EUR2.75 million and up to EUR1.7 million from the EBRD’s Special Crisis Response Fund, which receives a contribution from the U.S. government, according to the statement Friday.
The loan and grants will be used to purchase new trolleybuses with remote monitoring systems, spare parts and service equipment.
In turn, the city will cover the cost of installing surveillance cameras inside the trolleybuses and upgrading the trolleybus stops, traction substations and trolleybus depot in the amount of EUR1.5 million.
The press release reminds us that the project is part of the EBRD’s Green Cities program, which Khmelnitsky joined in 2019. The first project, signed in October 2020, concerned improving solid waste management.
“Both projects are extremely important to the residents of Khmelnitsky: the ongoing project – to improve solid waste management – and the project to purchase new trolleybuses. We are glad that we can implement them exactly with the EBRD, our long-term partner, despite the war caused by Russian aggression,” the press service quotes Khmelnitsky Mayor Alexander Simchyshyn, who represented the city in Warsaw at the signing of the agreement with EBRD Managing Director for Sustainable Infrastructure Development Nandita Parshad.
As reported, earlier Simchyshyn noted that up to 45 low-floor trolleybuses are planned to buy with EBRD funds and grants, but at the same time, their number will depend on the cost of trolleybuses, which has increased.
The EBRD press service states that after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Khmelnytskyi faced a large flow of internally displaced persons (IDPs), which put a strain on city services.
The EBRD resumed work with Khmelnitsky in June, adding an IDP needs assessment to the Green City Action Plan, with funding provided by the Swedish government.
The EBRD’s Green Cities program was founded in 2016. Since then, it has helped more than 50 cities on three continents, with more than EUR5 billion spent on its support.
In Ukraine, Lviv, Kiev, Kryvyi Rig, Dnipro, Khmelnitsky joined it, among others.
As it was reported, the EBRD together with donors undertook to provide financing in the amount of EUR3 billion for support of functioning of business and economy in Ukraine in 2022-2023. In 2022, the bank allocated EUR1.7bn to support Ukraine and attracted EUR200m from partner financial institutions.
In February 2023 Ukrainian banks issued 126 mortgage loans totaling UAH 169.8 million, which is five times less than in February 2022 by number of such loans and by 69% – by volume, according to results of a monthly survey of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to it, four banks reported on the issuance of mortgages. Loans were mainly issued under state programs to support lending exclusively in the secondary market of real estate.
The weighted average effective rate on mortgages in February was 8.3%, while in January it was 7.5%.
According to the survey, the most loans were granted in Kiev and the region – 51 contracts totaling 77.5 million UAH (46% of the total amount), in Rivne – 10 contracts for 12.5 million UAH (7%) and in Vinnitsa region – seven contracts for 9.8 million UAH (6%).
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will issue long-term loan of EUR42 mln to support activities of Polish ceramic tile and sanitary ware producer Cersanit S.A. in Ukraine and Poland.
According to an EBRD press release on Tuesday, the financing will be used to offset the impact of the write-down of Russian assets, the war in Ukraine and a fire at one of Cersanit’s facilities in Poland. In addition, the manufacturer is expected to play an important role in rebuilding Ukraine’s infrastructure damaged by the Russian invasion.
According to the report, the development project includes ramping up production of ceramic tiles and sanitary ware and completing investments in large format tile production in Ukraine, as well as renovating the acrylic products plant in Poland, expanding capacity and improving energy efficiency of the plants. The total amount of the project is EUR120 million.
“These investments not only help the economies of both countries by supporting a dynamic local producer of goods that will be an important component of Ukraine’s recovery, but also retain human capital by preserving key jobs. The EBRD remains committed to financing other investments in Ukraine and neighboring states affected by the war,” EBRD Vice President Alain Piloux was quoted as saying in a statement as signing the loan agreement with Cersanit in Warsaw.
The loan is part of the Resilience and Livelihoods Facility (RLF) program opened by the bank after the war.
As it was reported, the EBRD together with donors undertook to provide financing in the amount of EUR3 billion to Ukraine during 2022-2023 to support the functioning of business and economy. In 2022, the bank allocated EUR1.7 billion to support Ukraine and attracted EUR200 million from partner financial institutions.
Cersanit S.A. is one of the leading manufacturing companies with Polish capital on the European market. The main activity of the company is production and sale of products for finishing and equipping bathrooms.
As stated on the Cersanit website, the group has four plants in Poland and one in Germany, Romania and Ukraine. The company’s Ukrainian plant was launched in 2009 in Zhytomyr region. The capacity of the company is 12 million square meters of ceramic tiles and up to 2 million units of sanitary ware a year.
According to the financial statements of Cersanit Invest LLC, in 2022 the company received a net loss of 964.5 million UAH, while the revenue amounted to more than 2.1 billion UAH.
According to Opendatabot, the owner of the company is listed as Cersanit JSC, the beneficiary is Michal Andrzej Solowow (Poland).
