The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has authorized the purchase and transfer of foreign currency by resident legal entities that are e-commerce entities abroad to pay value added tax (VAT) on the purchase of goods from domestic producers by consumers from EU countries.
“The condition for these transactions is that the e-commerce entity must be registered as a taxpayer in the EU. This mitigation will primarily support small and medium-sized businesses that will be able to promote their own goods on the EU market through trading platforms,” the central bank said in a press release on Monday.
The regulator assumes that this will not have a negative impact on international reserves, as the inflow of foreign currency to Ukraine for the goods sold will far exceed the additional demand for currency to pay VAT in the EU.
In addition, the NBU announced a number of other currency easing measures. In particular, the central bank allowed state-owned companies to buy and transfer foreign currency abroad to cover carbon dioxide emissions.
“State-owned enterprises will be able to buy foreign currency and transfer it to non-residents to purchase quotas to cover or compensate for carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions associated with aviation activities,” the National Bank explains.
According to the regulator, this step contributes to the continuity of defense procurement under state contracts, will allow for further air transportation abroad, and will support military-technical cooperation with the EU.
Other transactions that the NBU has authorized since September 10 include payments for operations under reinsurance agreements concluded with foreign nuclear insurance pools.
“In particular, to pay a break-even bonus, which is a mandatory condition stipulated by the reinsurance agreement. This mitigation will have a minor impact on international reserves and at the same time will allow the Nuclear Insurance Pool to fulfill its obligations to partners, which is important for the smooth operation of the industry,” the NBU said in a release.
As reported, the regulator also allowed Ukrainian businesses to reimburse coupon payments on Eurobonds paid from February 24, 2022, to July 9, 2024, at the expense of their own foreign currency accumulated in Ukraine.
At the same time, starting from September 10, the NBU introduced a limit of UAH 100 thousand per month for payments for watches, jewelry, precious stones and coins from currency cards of Ukrainian banks abroad and up to UAH 500 thousand per month for transactions with real estate agents.
All of the above innovations are introduced by Resolution No. 108 of September 6, 2024, which was officially promulgated on Monday, September 9.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) this week again increased net sales of foreign currency on the interbank market to $646.30 million from $624.49 million a week earlier, according to the regulator’s data. According to them, the central bank refrained from buying foreign currency for the third week in a row, while sales jumped from $624.49m to $646.30m.
The official hryvnia exchange rate rose by 17 kopecks over the week. – UAH/$1 to 41.0592 UAH/$1, while on the cash market the hryvnia strengthened by about 11 kopecks when buying – to 41.30 UAH/$1 and by 10 kopecks when selling – to 41.40 UAH/$1
Since the beginning of 2024, the dollar at the official rate has appreciated by 8%, or by UAH 3.05, and since the transition of the National Bank on October 3, 2023 to the regime of managed flexibility – by 12.3%, or by UAH 4.49.
Thus, this month the hryvnia managed to fall by 0.1%, or by 5 kopecks, while in July the official hryvnia exchange rate fell by 1.4%, or by 55 kopecks – to 41.0063 UAH/$1. In June, its decline slowed to 3 kopecks after weakening by 90 kopecks in May.
As evidenced by the data that the NBU managed to publish for this period, from Monday to Thursday the negative balance between the volume of currency purchases and sales by the population gradually widened from $5.96 mln to $36.63 mln.
Ukraine’s international reserves in July, according to preliminary estimates of the National Bank, decreased by 1.8%, or $572.3 million – to $37 billion 231.9 million, while net international reserves (NIR) fell by $3 billion – to $23.30 billion. According to the quantitative performance criterion (QPC) in the updated program of expanded financing of the EFF, Ukraine’s NIR at the end of September this year should be at least $28.8 billion, and at the end of the year – at least $26.3 billion.
At the same time, according to the Ministry of Finance, Ukraine received about $8.4bn of external financing in August. In particular, $4.5bn from the EU under the Ukraine Facility, of which $1.6bn is a grant, as well as $3.9bn grant from the US through the World Bank’s PEACE in Ukraine project.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has notified ASK Dnister (Lviv) that the Committee for Supervision and Regulation of Non-Banking Financial Services Markets on August 23 revoked the company’s operating licenses and excluded it from the State Register of Financial Institutions.
This insurer reported in the information disclosure system of the NCSSM.
As reported, the NBU on July 12 granted permission to ASK Dnister to voluntarily withdraw from the market by executing the insurance portfolio on the basis of its application.
The decision on the exit of PJSC “ASK ‘Dnister’ from the market and approval of the exit plan was adopted by the shareholders’ meeting on June 28, 2024.
The insurance portfolio of the company is formed of payments on insurance of land transport, except railway transport (91,6%), insurance of property against fire and other risks (6%), other types (2,4%).
The share of the company on insurance premiums in the insurance market makes 0,01%.
PrJSC ASK Dnister was founded in 1993, specializing in risk types of insurance.
In January-June this year, Ukrainian banks increased their net profit by UAH 11.4 billion, or 16.8% compared to the same period in 2023, to UAH 79.04 billion, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported.
“The main factors of profitability are the maintenance of a high net interest margin and almost zero allocations to provisions for losses from active operations,” the NBU explained the reasons for the increase in profitability.
“In the first half of the year, only seven small banks out of 62 solvent banks were unprofitable with a total loss of UAH 171 million,” the NBU said.
According to the NBU, the profitability of banks’ core assets continued to decline in the second quarter. In particular, it fell most rapidly for NBU certificates of deposit, which led banks to reduce their investments in these securities, the regulator said.
At the same time, interest rates on domestic government bonds (OVDPs) also went down, but the volume of investments in them grew.
“It is due to the increase in assets that banks have maintained a fairly high net interest margin and increased revenues,” the regulator emphasized.
It is noted that the return on equity of banks in the first half of 2024 amounted to 48.4%, which is lower than the same indicator in the first half of 2023, which was 56%.
The amount of income tax accrued by banks in the first six months of this year amounted to UAH 21.9 billion, compared to UAH 12.4 billion in the same period last year, as the income tax rate was increased from 18% to 25%.
According to the NBU, the banking system’s net profit last year amounted to UAH 82.8 billion after charging UAH 76.2 billion in income tax at the increased rate of 50%.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) this week increased its net sale of foreign currency on the interbank market to $949.9m from $532.1m the previous week, according to the regulator’s data. According to them, the volume of currency purchases by the central bank remains paltry at $0.27m, while its sales rose to $950.2m.
Over the week, the official hryvnia exchange rate weakened to a record 41.4912 UAH/$1 from 41.0107 UAH/$1.
Since the beginning of 2024, the dollar at the official exchange rate has become more expensive by 9.2%, or by UAH 3.49, and since the transition of the National Bank on October 3, 2023 to the regime of managed flexibility – by 13.4%, or by UAH 4.93.
On the cash market, the hryvnia weakened by about 70 cents during the week. – To 41.95 UAH/$1.
According to the data that the NBU managed to publish during this period, from Monday to Thursday the negative balance between the volume of currency purchases and sales by households increased from $36.5 million to $52.9 million, following the weakening of the hryvnia.
Ukraine’s international reserves fell by $1.14 billion to $37.89 billion in June, according to the NBU’s preliminary estimates, while the National Bank’s net interventions totaled $2.99 billion, down from $3.07 billion in May.
In May 2024, state-owned PrivatBank increased its net profit by 80% compared to April and with UAH 6.5 billion topped the country’s five most profitable banks, according to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on its website. According to the data, Privat is followed by state-owned Oschadbank, which earned UAH 2.3 billion in net profit in May, up 40.3% from April.
Another state-owned bank, Ukreximbank, rounded out the top three most profitable banks in May, increasing its net profit more than threefold to UAH 1.3 billion compared to April, and pushing Raiffeisen Bank to fourth place, whose net profit in May decreased by 16.3% to UAH 670.2 million compared to April.
The top five in May was rounded out by Pivdenny Bank, which quadrupled its net profit in May compared to April to UAH 632 million.
The second five were formed by Universal Bank (mono) – UAH 625.4 million, Uksibbank – UAH 594.8 million, FUIB – UAH 534.9 million, Credit Agricole Bank – UAH 506.6 million and OTP Bank – UAH 446 million.
According to the statistics, Ukrgasbank, which was the 7th largest bank in terms of net profit in April, took the 12th position in May with a net profit of UAH 370.3 million.
In addition to Ukrgasbank, four other banks made a net profit of over UAH 100 million in May 2024: City Bank – UAH 390 million, Sense Bank, which was nationalized last July, – UAH 254 million, Cominbank – UAH 137.8 million, and Kredobank – UAH 121 million.
The top three most unprofitable banks in May were led by Poltava-Bank with a net loss of UAH 28.8 million, followed by Cominvestbank with UAH 17.2 million and Industrialbank with UAH 6.5 million.
Overall, in the first 5 months of 2024, banks’ net profit increased to UAH 67.9 billion from UAH 52.1 billion in the first four months of the year.
