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The German Ministry of Economy and Energy has received a proposal from Ukraine for an additional transit of 55 billion cubic meters of gas,  reported Interfax. We will talk intensively about this proposal,” said German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen speaking at a conference in Kyiv. Feldhusen stressed that Germany is also trying to save transit through Ukraine, “I must also say that the transit of gas will end someday, so Ukraine should work on the future of this system to ensure the transit of hydrogen in the future so that Ukraine becomes independent, it can export energy,” he added.

• #GasTransit
• #GasTransitthroughUkraine
• #GastransittoEU

Naftogaz to supply 700 million cubic meters of gas to Moldova. Naftogaz has signed a framework agreement with Moldovan Energocom to supply 700 million cubic meters of gas.  The supply agreement is only based on actual consumption, reported epravda.com

• #UkraineandMOldova
• #UkrainegasforMoldova
• #UkraineselsGastoMoldova

Coal stocks at warehouses decreased by almost 7% during the past week.  As of October 25, 2021, coal reserves in the warehouses of thermal power plants (TPPs) and thermal power plants (CHPs) amounted to 701,300 tons, which is 6.9% less than the reserves on October 18. Thus, the actual fuel reserves are 4.2 times smaller than planned, says gov.ua. The growth in demand for Ukrainian coal is from China due to its current trade war with Australia.

• #CoalDemandinUkraine
• #CoalImport
• #CoalShortage2021
• #CoalStockUkraine

Ukrainian and Australian scientists will cooperate in the field of hydrogen energy. Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine, Yulia Pidkomorna, met with Deputy Head of Mission and Consul of the Embassy of Australia in Ukraine, Robert Vin Curtis. The parties agreed on cooperation between scientists of Ukraine and Australia in the development of hydrogen energy. The interdepartmental working group is working on the basis of the Ministry of Energy to develop a Strategy for the Development of Hydrogen Energy in Ukraine until 2030.  

• #hydrogenEnergy
• #UkraineandAustralia
• #Ukrainehydrogen

EU disburses €600 mln in Macro-Financial Assistance to Ukraine. This is the second and final tranche under Ukraine’s current MFA program following the first €600 million disbursements in December 2020. With this payment, the outstanding amount of loans to Ukraine under its multiple MFA programs reaches €4.4 bln. This disbursement is part of the €3 bln emergency MFA package for ten enlargement and neighborhood partners, which aims to help them limit the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, said the press release.

• #EUfinancialAssistance
• #EUhelpsUkraine
• #EUmicroFinancialAssistance

Last week NBU purchased $ 350 million on the interbank market.  The purchase of currency on the interbank market between October 18-23 was valued at $350.1 mln, according to NBU data. The National Bank has not intervened in the sale of currency for seven weeks prior to October 18, 2021.

• #NationalBankofUkraine
• #nbu

Oschadbank made the first step toward Privatization,  said the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in a recent press release. The EBRD and Oschadbank, Ukraine’s state savings bank, today agreed today to work together towards a pre-privatization engagement. They will assist in the commercialization of Oschadbank, improve its corporate governance and undertake other corporate governance tasks to attract a robust investor. The agreement was signed by Matteo Patrone, EBRD Managing Director, and Serhii Naumov, the CEO of Oschadbank.

• #oschadbank
• #OschadbankPrivatization
• #OschadbankUkraine

Oschadbank to borrow €100 mln from the EBRD. The funds will come in the form of a subordinated loan with the possibility of conversion into shares, reported the Ministry of Finance. The bank officials agreed to work in accordance with the development strategy of Oschadbank for 2021-2024. Cooperation is also subject to the principles of reforming the banking sector to reduce the share of the state in the banking sector from 60% to 25% by 2025.

• #ebrdukraine
• #oschadbank
• #OschadbankandEBRD

Kazakhstan’s fintech company, Kaspi.kz, purchases a bank in Ukraine.  The fintech company purchased a bank in order to receive a banking license. Kaspi.kz has signed a purchase agreement for 100% of BTA Bank Ukraine to obtain a banking license in the region. This will allow the company to launch fintech products, open mobile wallets, accounts, reported NV.

• #BTAbankUkraine
• #KaspiKZ
• #KaspiKZbuysUkraineBank

Ukrposhta and eBay have launched a campaign in support of Ukrainian SMEs.  Entrepreneurs registered on the platform by the end of the year will be offered special conditions such as 0% commission on sales for the first three months, 200 free advertisements, and special support from eBay, announced Ukrposhta. 

• #Ebay
• #EbayandUkrposhta
• #Ukrposhta

Ukrtelecom increased revenues by 7% in the nine months of 2021.  Ukrtelecom’s revenue for the first nine months amounted to more than UAH 5 bln ($190 mln), which is 7% more than the same period in 2020, reported Ukrtelecom. At the same time, EBITDA is almost UAH 1.6 billion, which is 17% more than in the same period last year. Revenues from the provision of Internet and data services continue to grow. In the first nine months of 2021, they amounted to almost UAH 1.63 billion, which is 5% more than

• #Ukrtelecom
• #UkrtelecomEarnings

Ukroboronprom increased production volumes by almost UAH 6 billion ($228 mln)  to UAH 26.83 bln ($1.01 bln) for the first 9 months of 2021.  This compares to UAH 21.05 bln ($800 mln) for the same period in 2020. If for 6 months of this year production volumes increased by UAH 2.7 bln ($102 mln) or 19.5% compared to the same period last year, then for 9 months of this year the increase amounted to UAH 5.78 bln ($220 mln) or + 27.4%.

• #ukroboronprom
• #UkroboronpromProduction

Trostyanets distillery to be privatized.  The state-owned enterprise in the Vinnytsia region has been put up for privatization with a starting price of ₴ 44 million UAH 44 mln ($1.67 mln). The distillery lists its assets as 67 plots of land and buildings and is to be sold at auction on November 26, according to Prozorro.Sales., in an announcement by the State Property Fund.

• #distilleryAuction
• #StatePropertyFund
• #Trostyanetsdistillery

Ukrzaliznytsia resumes the Kyiv-Warsaw route. After an 18-month hiatus, the first train will depart on November 4, 2021, reported the press service of UZ. To book a ticket and travel on long-distance trains in Ukraine passengers must have valid Covid-19 certification or a recent PCR test.

• #KyivWarsawtrain
• #UkrzaliznytsiaRouts
• #UZtrains

Ukraine received $2.8 mln for cold chain systems for storage Covid19 vaccines.  The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Ukraine has allocated $2.8 mln to fund UNICEF’s procurement of WHO-prequalified equipment. These new cold chain systems will be provided to 3,100 COVID vaccination sites, including the 1,034 sites that are operational at primary healthcare clinics and to 800 mobile teams. This marks the beginning of an unprecedented modernization of Ukraine’s cold chain equipment for the transportation and temporary storage of vaccines.

• #Covid19Storagesystems
• #CovidEquipment
• #USAID
• #USAIDassistance

Naftogaz will hire 20 top managers. Naftogaz has announced a tender for the services of recruitment agencies to find staff to select 20 candidates for senior management positions, the expected cost is UAH 46.92 mln ($ 1.79 mln). Tender proposals are accepted until November 22, reported epravda.com.

• #NaftogazHiresManagers
• #NaftogaztopManagement
• #NaftogazUkraine

The number of debtors in the state register has increased by 60% since the beginning of the year. If in January 2021 there were 4.2 million, then as of October, 6.8 mln, according to the platform for working with open data “Opendatabot”. It is noted that the number of proceedings to collect debts by private contractors from January to October has doubled from 278,000 to 547,000, an increase of 95%. The share of private executors in debt collection reaches 8% of all proceedings in the country.

• #DebtCollectors
• #DebtCollectorsinUkraine
• #statedebtorsinUkraine

Retail trade turnover increased by 12.3%. In January-September 2021 period, retail trade-in in Ukraine increased by 12.3% compared to the same period in 2020, to UAH 746.87 bln ($28.3 bln), according to the State Statistics Service.

• #RetailSalesUkraine
• #RetailTradeTurnover
• #retailUkraine

Firefly Aerospace to build a moon lander by Sept 2023,  according to Interfax.  NASA has confirmed the readiness of the Blue Ghost moon lander, a USA-based firm to develop the rocket and space technology with Firefly Aerospace Inc. Firefly is owned by Max Polyakov, a Ukrainian entrepreneur. According to the Artemis lunar mission schedule, the moon lander is to land in the Mare Crisium lunar basin in September 2023. The module will deliver ten NASA payloads to the lunar surface, as well as several commercial cargoes.

• #BlueGhost
• #FireFly
• #Fireflyrocket
• #MaxPolyakov

Editor’s note: Yesterday, Naftogaz announced the selection for the position of four independent members of its Supervisory Board. Today, the new announcement is to hire 20 top managers for the National Gas Company. About a year ago, Ukrzaliznytsia had the same announcement to hire a top manager for the company, and it was Boyden recruiting agency. A close friend of Ukraine Business News, who graduated with an MBA from one of the leading US schools, has 10 years of work experience in

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