Moody’s Investors Service on November 22 changed the outlook on the Government of Ukraine’s ratings to positive from stable. At the same time, Ukraine’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings have been affirmed at Caa1.
“The affirmation of Ukraine’s Caa1 ratings reflects its – while showing signs of improvement – significant external vulnerability,” Moody’s said.
The sizeable external debt repayments due over the coming years would – in the absence of a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme – require continued market access. At the same time, the risk of a new flare-up in geopolitical tensions continues to constrain upward movement in the credit rating at this time.
The key drivers for the change in the outlook to positive are: the rebuilding of Ukraine’s foreign exchange reserves is reducing external vulnerability in the context of large external repayments; and the improvement of Ukraine’s macroeconomic stability and the prospect for renewed reform momentum is strengthening the country’s economic resilience.
Concurrently, Moody’s has affirmed the Ca rating on the $3 billion eurobond that Ukraine sold in December 2013. The sole subscriber of the notes was the Russian government. The bond is under dispute due to the international armed conflict between the two governments.
Finally, Ukraine’s long-term foreign currency bond and deposit ceilings remain unchanged at B3 and Caa2 respectively, while the short-term foreign currency ceilings for bonds and deposits remain Not Prime (NP). The country ceilings for local currency bonds and deposits are also unchanged at B3.
The TOP Outdoor advertising operator (Kyiv) plans to cover the entire territory of Ukraine in 2020, and plans to enter the international market in 2021. “Sooner or later, we will cover the entire country and plan to move beyond its borders. This is already in 2021, and for 2020 our plan is to go out and cover the whole country,” the co-founder and CEO of TOP Outdoor, Oleksiy Ohorodnik, said in an interview with the Focus publication.
According to him, the company currently offers digital outdoor advertising in Kyiv and Odesa and is in the process of entering the markets of Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zaporizhia.
“We will focus on cities with about one million of population or at least half million of population,” added Ohorodnik, noting the low economic feasibility of development in smaller cities.
He also said that in addition to the main direction of the operator – advertising on media facades – there are plans to develop a “city format,” as well as interactive formats that provide for interaction with the audience.
In addition, the company is working on opening a software platform for managing content and interacting with advertisers, Ohorodnik added.
Top Outdor Ukraine LLC was established in 2017. According to the unified public register of legal entities and private entrepreneurs, the founders of the company are Ostap Schotkevych (70%), Ilia Strakh (15%), Ohorodnik (10%), Viktor Osadchiy and Oleksandr Svintozelsky (2.5% each).
Ukraine and Belarus are discussing building new interstate power lines and DC links for existing power lines, the press service of the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection said after a meeting of the Ukrainian-Belarusian group for cooperation in the fuel and energy sphere. “At the meeting, the issue of building new electric power lines between the neighboring states was discussed. It was about the line between Rivne and Brest regions (Belarus). The issue of building DC links on the existing 330 kV overhead lines between the Belarusian unified power grid and the Ukrainian unified power grid was discussed: Mozyr-Chornobyl NPP and Gomel-Chernihiv,” the press service said.
Minister of Energy and Environment Protection Oleksiy Orzhel said that cooperation between the states in the field of electricity is one of the priority issues in the energy sector.
“Electricity is among the priority issues. Next February, Belarus NPP should start working. There may be an excess of electricity in which we are interested. Although, of course, the capacity of the interstate lines for electricity exchange must be taken into account,” the press service said, citing the minister as saying.
Also during the meeting, the issue of power supply to the border areas was raised, in particular, the involvement of 0.4-110 kV interstate power transmission lines in order to ensure supplies to the border areas under contracts between Belenergo and D.Trading LLC.
The Polish fashion retailer LPP Group, managing the brands Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito, Sinsay, in July-September 2019 increased sales in Ukraine by 39.2% compared to the same period in 2018, to PLN 127.6 million (about $33 million). According to the company’s financial report, LPP’s total revenue from sales in the third quarter grew by 14.9%, exceeding PLN 2.3 billion (about $605.6 million). At the same time, one of the highest sales growth dynamics was recorded in Ukraine.
In general, over the nine months, LPP increased sales in Ukraine by 33.1%, to PLN 321.8 million (about $83 million), while sales of the entire group grew by 12.6%, to PLN 6.389 billion ($1.65 billion).
In addition, it is reported that in September the retailer opened an online store of its own brands in Ukraine, which became the 13th e-commerce market for LPP Group.
“Adapting to the prevailing trend associated with the increasing popularity of online shopping, we are taking steps to further develop this sales channel. We implement this development through our own online stores. This gives us direct access to clients, control over goods and the absence of intermediaries. In the second half of 2019, the group launched an online store for all EU countries and for Ukraine,” the report said.
LPP S.A. was established in 1995. The first store (Reserved) was opened in 2000.
Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Ukraine Matti Maasikas has said that the European Union will continue supporting Ukraine on the way of reforms and European integration. Tomorrow Ukraine marks the 6th anniversary of the beginning of the Revolution of Dignity, which radically changed and reoriented the modern history of the country, he said at a meeting of the Ukrainian government on Wednesday. He said that the Ukrainian people have already paid and continue to pay a high price for the European choice. The country took up this challenge while it is defending its territorial integrity and sovereignty, he said.
For the sake of the values and principles that we share, you can count on the indestructible support of the European Union, Maasikas said.
Speaking about the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, Maasikas said that it is the contractual basis of Ukraine-EU bilateral relations.
He said that among the vital reforms are the fight against corruption, progress in the field of digital technologies, energy, and environmental protection.
“The demand for reforms in these areas will sound louder from your citizens than our requests to fulfill the obligations of the agreement,” the ambassador said.
He also said that since 2014, the EU has mobilized EUR 15 billion in grants and loans to support reforms in Ukraine.
The EU welcomes the government’s intentions to deepen cooperation in the energy and digital space, Maasikas said.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) together with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) will finance a program of support for bioenergy development worth over $50 million, Lesya Kuzmenko, the EBRD Deputy Head in Ukraine, has said.
“The program is aimed at technologies and systems for collection, storage and processing of agrobiomass. We plan to mobilize about $50 million for its implementation,” she said at the official opening of the program “Sustainable Bioenergy Value Chain Innovation” in Ukraine.
The leading engineer of the EBRD in Ukraine, Tetiana Markuta, clarified that the total amount of the four-year program is $55.8 million, and it is planned to launch it from the fourth quarter of 2019. According to her, the Global Environment Facility provides grant support under the program.
Most of these funds – $50 million – will be issued for lending to bioenergy projects in the private sector, and another $3.5 million for incentive grants, she said. The remaining funds are to be used for information support and educational projects in the field of bioenergy.
“We will look at options for possible stimulation of the development of bioenergy within the framework of the program and choose two or three areas that will be most beneficial for Ukraine,” she added.
She noted that the support is designed for companies in the field of agriculture and logistics, companies that can work with waste, as well as those that produce and process biomass.
