Ukraine’s state budget fails to garner 25% of planned revenue last month. State revenue in January reached just Hr 42.6 billion, which is Hr 13.6 billion less than planned, according to the Ministry of Finance. It blames the underperformance on “essential changes of macroeconomic indicators compared to the government forecast approved in October 2019.” One of those changes is a stronger Ukrainian hryvnia vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar and other currencies, the UNIAN news agency reported. A 2.5% fall in imports and low gas prices have also contributed.
Taskombank to issue bonds worth Hr 200 million ($8 million). Taskombank, a commercial bank belonging to former politician Sergiy Tihipko, is offering its bonds in two Hr 100 million issues this month, multiple Ukrainian media reported. The bonds will circulate for 10 years and bear 16.5% per annum within the first year of circulation. The bank’s executive, Artem Karelin, confirmed the forthcoming issue to the Kyiv Post and said that the bank will offer bonds to the public next week.
Taskombank featured as Ukraine’s 17th top bank in the last ranking by the country’s central bank. As of October 2019, the bank boasted Hr 19.15 billion ($765 million) in assets.
Purchases of residential real estate grew by 8.7% in 2019. The total number of real estate sale contracts signed by public and private notaries grew to 301,029 during the year, according to the Ukrainian Trade Guild, a real estate consulting company. According to the company, most of segments of the population refrained from purchasing real estate during the first half of the year due to the presidential and parliamentary elections. However, in the second half, growing optimism among Ukrainians, an appreciating hryvnia and growing consumption led to many more real estate purchases, Novoye Vremya reported, citing the guild and its president.
Vinnytsia Oblast is teaming up with France to develop agro-industry hub. Industrial companies of the region, as well as its agricultural producers, will use French technology park Vitagora’s know-how to “provide Vinnytsia and the region in general with an opportunity to develop economic activities in the agro-industry and to move to a new level of international cooperation,” said deputy governor Serhiy Zditovetsky.
Ukrainian small and medium-sized businesses are taking advantage of the government’s business growth program to receive loans. Known as the 5-7-9% program, it is operated through a network of three state-owned banks — PrivatBank, Ukrgasbank and Oshchadbank. The funds will go to companies with no more than 50 employees and annual revenue up to Hr 50 million ($2 million). The more jobs a new business project will create, the lower the interest rate will be — 5% 7% or 9%. The loans can be as large as Hr. 1.5 million ($60,000) and they must be repaid within five years. PrivatBank reported that almost 10,000 new businesses have already applied for such loans. The first such loan in Ukraine was issued today by Ukrgasbank in Vinnytsia, a city in central Ukraine, 250 kilometers south of Kyiv.
Ukrainian banks offer lower interest rates on deposits. A review by the Liga business news portal has shown that average deposit rate have decreased in Ukraine for the three most popular currencies among Ukrainian depositors — the hryvnya, the dollar and euro. The researchers compared the rates offered by 27 banks operating in the country as of Jan. 20 and Feb. 3, 2020. Experts told Liga in January 2020 that this year will see a decrease in bank deposit rates due to lower inflation and growing competition among lenders for clients.
Rebuilding Donbas will cost much, but making it a “flourishing region” is Ukraine’s priority. “What has happened there provides an opportunity to look at the territory from an absolutely different point of view,” said presidential aide Andriy Yermak in an interview with the krym.tv YouTube channel. In the future, Donbas “can be a progressive economic hub developing undreamed-of and undiscussed industries.” Yermak stressed that Ukraine is working on the region’s future economic development, but declined to comment on specifics. Ukraine cooperates with the World Bank and other donors to create a special fund “directed specifically toward development of this region, rebuilding Donbass,” he said.
