Ukraine’s state budget on Friday received another tranche of $1.25 billion in grant funds from the United States.
“Funding was provided through the World Bank Trust Fund as part of the fourth additional funding for the Supporting Public Expenditures for Sustainable Governance in Ukraine (PEACE) Project,” the Finance Ministry pointed out.
He specified that Ukraine has already received about $16.7 billion in grants from the U.S. since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“The partnership with the U.S. and the World Bank team during the war allows the Ukrainian government to fund priority social expenditures in full. At the same time, aid in the form of grants does not increase the debt burden and helps stabilize the financial system,” said Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko.
As reported, the external financing needs of the state budget of Ukraine in 2023 is more than $ 42 billion.
Since the beginning of this year, by April 26, according to the Ministry of Finance, funding from international partners has already reached $15.285 billion, compared to $32.144 billion for the whole of last year. That includes $3.5 billion in grants from the U.S. this year. The EU, with $6.501 billion, the IMF, with $2.706 billion, and Canada, with $1.757 billion, have also already provided large loans.
Domestic financing from government bonds this year amounted to $4.839 billion.
U.S. car sales in the first quarter increased by 7.5 percent year-on-year, MarketWatch wrote.
In January-March 2023, automakers sold 3.59 million cars compared to 3.34 million cars a year earlier.
General Motors sales were up 17.6%, Nissan sales were up 17.3%, Honda Motor Co. sales were up 11.7%, Hyundai sales were up 15.5% and Kia sales were up 21.8%. Stellantis and Toyota worsened by 9.1% and 8.8%, respectively.
The average car loan interest rate reached a 15-year high of 7%, and the average monthly payment for a new car was a record $730.
In 2022, automakers couldn’t meet demand due to a chip shortage and sold only 13.9 million cars. Previously, about 17 million cars were sold in a year. This year, sales will total 14.8 million cars, analyst firm Edmunds predicts.
Velta Group of Companies with titanium ore mining assets in Novomirgorod (Kirovograd Region) decided to build a plant to produce titanium products using its own innovative technology in the United States instead of Ukraine and the UAE because of the war.
The company’s president, Andrei Brodsky, said on Facebook on Sunday that it has been more than two weeks since he returned from a business trip to Washington, D.C.
“Before the full-scale war began, we, VELTA, were starting to build a pilot plant to make titanium products using our own technology. We obtained a lease on an industrial facility in Novomoskovsk, began repair and construction work and the purchase of equipment. We also received a long-term lease on the territory of a former mine next to our mining and processing facility in Novomirgorod in Kirovograd region and began designing a large enterprise. It has to be a new Ukrainian industrial giant. Everything was stopped by the war”, stated the CEO.
According to him, near the future enterprise “two Russian missiles flew in, right above our mine our air defense shot down another one, there was a threat of a quick breakthrough front”.
In order “not to give high-tech developments to the enemy,” they decided to create the first enterprise for the processing of titanium raw materials outside of Ukraine. “It was a forced and very difficult decision,” said the co-founder of VELTA.
At the same time, he noted that the company had very strong ideas to build an enterprise in the UAE.
But the UAE has taken an unclear position with regard to Ukraine, “Kadyrovites and simply fugitive Russians have created their own almost hub there, and I stopped to consider Dubai or Abu Dhabi as an attractive haven,” Brodsky said. He also noted that he had to reformat his plans concerning titanium products: “Even now I really want to produce purely civilian products. And we are going to do that. Perhaps later… Now the market says completely different things. The world has completely changed with the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine.
According to Brodsky, it was decided to build the company in the United States, which is Ukraine’s main and reliable ally in the fight against Russian invaders and also the leading leader in technology and weapons production.
PKF VELTA LLC was registered in April 2000. The main activity is the extraction and production of ilmenite concentrate.
VELTA Holding LLC owns 100% of PKF VELTA LLC. The ultimate beneficiaries are three individuals: Andrey Brodsky (60%), Vadim Moskalenko (20%) and Vitaly Malakhov (20%).
The U.S. authorities on Monday may announce the allocation of another package of military aid to Kyiv, this time in the amount of $2.6 billion, according to Western media, citing U.S. officials.
The package, among other things, will include various types of ammunition, anti-tank weapons, air surveillance radar, equipment for crossing water barriers, recovery vehicles, and missiles for NASAMS air defense systems.
The reports note that work on this military assistance in the United States has not yet been completed, and therefore changes may occur in the list of transferred weapons.
The U.S. economy will enter recession in the coming months, Jeff Gundlach, head of investment company DoubleLine Capital, said on CNBC.
According to Gundlach, only a rise in unemployment is needed for a recession to begin under current conditions. The Federal Reserve (Fed) will need to take “very decisive” action, he believes, and expects the regulator to lower interest rates this year.
Since March 3, the two-year U.S. Treasury yield has fallen about 100 basis points to 4.078%. Until it recovers, the Fed won’t raise rates, Gundlach believes.
The Fed has been tightening monetary policy throughout the year. As Bloomberg notes, this forces investors to reallocate capital in favor of cash and instruments with yields higher than deposit rates, including Treasury bills and units of money market funds.
The number of homes under construction in the U.S. in February rose 9.8 percent from the previous month to 1.45 million at an annualized rate, a five-month high, according to the country’s Commerce Department.
According to the revised data, the number of new buildings in January was 1.321 million, rather than the 1.309 million previously announced. Despite the revision, the January figure was the lowest since June 2020.
Experts had predicted an increase in the number of new buildings in February to 1.31 million from the previously announced January level, according to Trading Economics.
The number of new buildings was down 18.4 percent from February 2022.
The number of new home construction permits issued in the U.S. in February increased 13.8% to 1.524 million on an annualized basis from 1.339 million a month earlier. Analysts’ consensus forecast suggested that the number of permits in February would be 1.34 million.
Construction of single-family homes rose 1.1% last month, to 830,000. Permits for such homes rose 7.6%, to 777,000.
In the case of apartment buildings (including apartments and condominiums), a more volatile market segment, there was a 24.1% increase, to 608,000. The number of permits for construction of apartment buildings increased 21.1%, to 747,000.
