Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

Ukraine’s Ten Largest Microfinance Organizations Reported 12.8 Bln Hryvnia in Revenue Over Six Months

Ukraine’s ten largest microfinance organizations reported combined revenue of 12.78 billion hryvnia and earned 1.16 billion hryvnia in net profit for the first half of 2026.

These figures were released by OpenDataBot on September 1.

Ukr Credit Finance, which operates under the CreditKasa brand, generated the highest revenue among MFOs—1.99 billion UAH. It accounted for approximately 16% of the total revenue of the top ten.

Second place in terms of revenue went to FC “Ye Hroshi” with 1.85 billion UAH, and third place went to “Spozhyvchiy Tsentr,” operating under the “ShvidkoHroshi” brand, with 1.52 billion UAH.

Next came “Aventus Ukraine” (CreditPlus) with revenue of 1.42 billion UAH, Miloan with 1.17 billion UAH, MyCredit with 1.08 billion UAH, “Bizpozika” with 1.07 billion UAH, Credit7 with 1.05 billion UAH, Moneyveo with 0.85 billion UAH, and Selfie Credit with 0.78 billion UAH.

In terms of profit, “Spotzhyvchyi Tsentr” took the lead with 361.3 million UAH. This represents about one-third of the combined profit of the ten largest MFIs. “Aventus Ukraine” came in second with 233.4 million UAH, and “Ukr Credit Finance” came in third with 172.6 million UAH.

The sector’s financial indicators are growing rapidly amid rising household debt. As of July 1, 2026, Ukrainians owed MFIs 32.32 billion UAH, which is 17% more than at the beginning of the year.

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Sales of new passenger cars in Ukraine fell by 27% in August

Sales of new passenger cars in August of this year fell by 27% compared to the same month in 2025—to nearly 5,000 units, which is also 14% less than the figure for July of this year, Ukravtoprom reported on its Telegram channel.

According to the association, the most popular brand remains Japan’s Toyota, which increased sales by 9% compared to August of last year—to 1,092 units.

Skoda holds second place with 600 units (+47%), while Renault took third with 361 units (-32%).

The top ten also included BYD—229 units (-69%), which ranked second last year amid rising demand for electric vehicles; Hyundai—261 units (-34%); Volkswagen—260 units (-51%); Mazda—187 units (+7%); BMW—186 units (-45%); Suzuki—156 units (-32%); and Mitsubishi—122 units (-2%).
The best-selling vehicle of the month was the Toyota RAV-4 crossover (in August 2025, it was the Renault Duster).

According to “Ukravtoprom,” a total of over 43,700 new passenger cars were sold in the country from January through August, which is 5% less than last year.
As previously reported, according to “Ukravtoprom,” the new passenger car market grew by 17% in 2025 compared to 2024, reaching 81,300 units.

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Ukrainians’ debt to MFIs has risen by 17% since beginning of year

According to Experts.news, the average microloan amount in Ukraine rose to 9,170 UAH in the second quarter of 2026, which is nearly 1.5 times higher than the figure for the same period last year, according to an analysis by the Experts Club think tank based on data from OpenDataBot.

In the second quarter of 2025, the average size of such a loan was approximately 6,290 UAH. Thus, over the course of a year, the average microloan amount increased by about 2,900 UAH, or 46%.

At the same time, Ukrainians did not turn to microfinance organizations significantly more often. On average, about 700,000 microloans are issued per month, and the total number of contracts for January–June 2026 amounted to 4.196 million.

The total amount of microloans issued in the first half of the year reached 37.5 billion UAH.

At the same time, the population’s accumulated debt to MFOs is growing. As of July 1, it stood at 32.32 billion UAH—4.7 billion UAH, or 17%, more than at the beginning of the year.

Original source: OpenDataBot—MFO market research for the first half of 2026

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More than 11,600 preschools will be open in Ukraine starting September 1

More than 11,600 preschool institutions will be open in Ukraine starting September 1, including 1,100 operating in a hybrid format and 1,200 offering remote instruction, according to the Ministry of Education and Science.

“As of September 1, 11,622 preschool education institutions will be operating in Ukraine: 9,301 in-person, 1,111 in a hybrid format, and 1,210 remotely. This year, 712,987 children will begin their education at these institutions. All preschools operating in-person or in a hybrid format have access to shelters,” the ministry’s statement reads.

At the same time, it is noted that there has been significant progress in providing shelters for preschools.
For example, while 56.1% of preschools had shelters in 2022, 83% now have shelters either on their premises or within 100 meters.

The ministry reported that in 2026, for the first time, a state subsidy totaling 1 billion hryvnia is allocated for the construction of shelters in preschool education institutions, of which over 972 million hryvnia has been allocated to 18 projects in nine regions.

“In accordance with the Law ‘On the Use of the English Language in Ukraine’ and the Law ‘On Preschool Education,’ starting September 1, 2026, the study of English in older preschool groups (for children aged 5–6) will become a mandatory component of the educational process in all preschool institutions,” the Ministry of Education noted.

The ministry noted that learning English in preschool is primarily a gentle introduction to the language through play, rather than “lessons” in the traditional sense.
Specifically, for children aged 5–6, the optimal class duration is 20–25 minutes, with a change in activities every 5–7 minutes—this helps maintain the children’s attention and interest.

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Ukrainian Water Utilities Explore Schneider Electric Solutions for Automation and Backup Power

Representatives of Ukrainian water and wastewater utilities are exploring opportunities for automation, digitalization, and improving the energy resilience of their infrastructure using Schneider Electric solutions.

In August, a specialized Schneider Electric conference dedicated to technologies for water supply and wastewater treatment companies was held in Kyiv. The municipal utility “Chornomorskvodokanal” in the Odesa region, among others, reported its participation in the event.
The main topics of discussion included the automation of production processes, the digitalization of water supply systems, improving energy efficiency, and ensuring a reliable power supply for critical infrastructure.

For Ukrainian water utilities, the energy component is of fundamental importance, as pumping stations, wastewater treatment plants, water treatment systems, and sewer facilities are directly dependent on a stable power supply.
At the same time, the modernization of the sector is taking place amid limited financial resources available to utility companies.

Schneider Electric’s portfolio for the water supply sector includes automation, dispatch, and power management systems; controllers; SCADA; electric motor control systems; digital analytics; and specialized EcoStruxure solutions.
Specifically, the company offers EcoStruxure Water Advisor, EcoStruxure Asset Advisor, EcoStruxure Automation Expert, EcoStruxure Power Monitoring Expert, and SCADAPack telemetry systems.

These technologies enable the integration of data from pumping stations, wastewater treatment plants, electrical equipment, and networks into a single monitoring system.
According to Schneider Electric, the digital transformation of water utilities helps address several key industry challenges: water loss, high energy costs, aging infrastructure, unplanned equipment shutdowns, and the need to detect failures more quickly.

In the Ukrainian context, this is compounded by the need to improve energy resilience. A modern water utility must, in fact, have both automated process control and the ability to continue operations in the event of an external power outage.
This requires a comprehensive architecture: backup power sources, automatic load switching, control of electric motors and pumps, energy consumption monitoring, SCADA, and remote control systems.

It is precisely this combination of automation and energy management that is gradually becoming one of the key areas of modernization for Ukraine’s municipal infrastructure.

It is noteworthy that “Chornomorskvodokanal” itself hosted representatives of the international SPARC program in August, who conducted an audit of the energy equipment previously provided to the company. This indicates that the modernization of public utility infrastructure is increasingly combining international technical assistance with the implementation of modern management and control systems.

Schneider Electric has been operating in Ukraine since 1994 and provides solutions for the energy sector, industry, buildings, data centers, and critical infrastructure.

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Modi urged Putin to end the war — every day of hostilities sets humanity back

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek on August 31, stated the need to move toward ending hostilities and finding a sustainable peaceful solution.

Every day of war sets humanity back. We must work to end hostilities,” Modi said during the open part of the bilateral talks. He was referring to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The Indian prime minister has consistently advocated ending it through negotiations and diplomacy. At his previous meeting with Putin at the SCO summit in Tianjin in September 2025, Modi also called for accelerating the end of the conflict and finding a long-term peaceful solution.

Modi and Putin met in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, on the sidelines of the 26th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The formal meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State is scheduled for September 1, while on August 31 the leaders are holding bilateral meetings and participating in other summit events.

The SCO was established on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on the basis of the so-called “Shanghai Five.” India and Pakistan became full members in 2017, Iran in 2023, and Belarus in 2024.

The SCO currently includes 10 states: Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Their combined population exceeds 3.4 billion people, and the organisation’s countries account for about a quarter of global GDP. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observers, while another 15 countries have dialogue partner status, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The SCO deals with regional security issues, while the organisation itself officially stresses that it is not a military alliance. Its permanent secretariat is located in Beijing, and the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure is based in Tashkent.

The summit in Bishkek is taking place in the year of the 25th anniversary of the SCO. The Indian government had previously said that Modi intended to use the forum to promote three New Delhi priorities — security, transport and economic connectivity, and new opportunities for cooperation.

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