Finance

Friday, November 26

Ukraine has pledged to agree to 12 conditions to receive the next IMF tranche. These structural beacons include: to approve the budget for 2022 with a deficit target of 3.5% of GDP; to abolish concessions in the criteria for state representatives in the management of state-owned banks; to release the results of an audit of funds spent on COVID; to improve the professional level in the field of banking supervision; to adopt a roadmap for bringing PrivatBank and Oschadbank for privatization; to publish reports on proceedings against former bank owners withdrawn from the market

The Ukraine Prime Minister and EBRD delegation discussed the creation of stock market infrastructure in Ukraine. Denys Shmyhal and representatives of the EBRD have discussed the creation of a quality stock market infrastructure in Ukraine, the strengthening of the banking sector and the implementation reported government the press service.

Thursday, November 25

IMF downgrades Ukraine’s GDP growth estimate to 3.2% from 3.5% in the October forecast. However, the IMF has unchanged Ukraine’s economic growth expectations in 2022 at 3.6%, and in 2023 3.4%.

The Guarantee Fund has received UAH 630 bln ($23.6 bln) in private investments. The total amount of deposits of individuals at the beginning of November 2021 includes deposits in national currency, UAH 385.84 bln ($14.4 bln), and deposits in foreign currency valued at UAH 243.52 bln ($9.1 bln). 98.0% of depositors in the participating banks of the Fund do not exceed UAH 200,000 and are fully covered by the Fund’s guarantees. The total amount of these deposits is UAH 241.92 bln (Fund press service).

The “Minfin” and Dragon Capital launched a mobile investment application Multi Invest. Using the application will make it possible to invest in shares of foreign companies, exchange-traded funds (ETF), cryptocurrency, and domestic government bonds. “The idea of Multi Invest is to make investments available to everyone. Thanks to the intuitive interface and prompts, users can start investing with Multi Invest”, said Sergey Vinderskikh, the Co-founder and Head of Fintech Product at Treeum. The Multi Invest app plans to combine all types of investments that can be managed on the phone. The launch

Wednesday, November 24

The IMF has agreed to allocate $700 million to Ukraine. Following the first revision of the stand-by program (SBA), the International Monetary Fund agreed to provide Ukraine with a loan tranche of about $700 mln, according to the fund’s press service. “Completion of the review allows the government to receive the equivalent of approximately $699 million, resulting in a total payout of the current SBA of approximately $ 2.8 billion,” the statement said.

DTEK Energy has reduced its net losses 10-fold since January 2021 . It earned UAH 1.965 bln ($74 mln) in net losses in the third quarter of this year, which is almost 10 times less than the loss in the same period last year, UAH 19.12 bln ($721 mln). At the same time, in the first 9 months of 2021, the company earned UAH 35.94 bln ($1.36 bln) in revenue. 13.7% more than UAH 31.614 bln ($1.19 bln). For the 3rd quarter of 2021, the gross profit amounted to UAH 4.91

The state Guaranteed Buyer has requested a debt settlement of UAH 4 bln ($150 mln) from Energoatom. The Acting Director, Vadym Ulyda reached out to the Director of Energoatom, Petro Kotin, to hold talks and settle disputes. The Guaranteed Buyer says it has taken all necessary measures to repay most of its 2020 debt. At the same time, Energoatom initiated lawsuits to recover funds from the Guaranteed Buyer. On November 22, the Northern Economic Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Energoatom. The subject of the lawsuit is to recover more than UAH

Ukraine is implementing 8 EBRD projects worth € 1.68 bln, announced the finance minister, Serhiy Marchenko, at a meeting with the newly appointed EBRD Vice President for Policy and Partnership, Mark Bowman. During the meeting, the issues of the current state of implementation of projects in the fields of infrastructure, energy, banking, industry, and natural resources were raised, the Ministry of Finance added. The parties also discussed Ukraine’s cooperation with international financial organizations, including the IMF and the World Bank. The EBRD remains the largest institutional lender in Ukraine, with

The Ministry of Finance has sold UAH 4.4 bln of bonds. On November 23, the Ministry of Finance raised UAH 4.4 bln ($166 mln) in equivalent at the auction for the placement of domestic government bonds (IGLBs), reported minfin.ua The weighted average yield of 3-month IGLBs was 10.00%, 6-month – 11.55%, 1-year – 11.64%, 1.5-year – 11.57%, 2-year – 12.47%, 3-year-olds – 12.85%.

Banks in Ukraine have increased their profits by 47%. In January-October 2021, banks earned UAH 58.4 bln ($2.19 bln) in net profit against UAH 39.8 bln ($1.5 bln) in the same period last year. Banks’ revenues for 10 months of 2021 increased by 4% year on year and amounted to UAH 217.8 bln ($8.23 bln). Instead, expenditures decreased by 6% to UAH 159.4 bln ($6.04 bln).

Ukreximbank sells loan claims for grain terminal in Ochakiv port. The state-owned bank has put the right of claim for sale under a loan agreement secured by a mortgage on a grain terminal at the Ochakiv seaport. The starting price is UAH 36.7 mln ($1.4 mln), and the auction is scheduled to be held on December 13, 2021. The grain complex is equipped with modern equipment for reception, storage, and transshipment of grain crops; technological processes are automated. Delivery of goods to the port can be carried out by road,

Tuesday, November 23

The Ukrainian budget will lose up to UAH 150 bln due to the payment of salaries in the grey sector. The Institute of Social and Economic Transformation research said that in 2020, shadow salaries caused enormous losses to the budget of UAH 110-150 bln. ($5.7 bln). In addition, the institute said that some budget losses have increased due to shadow wages, smuggling, and corruption at the border. At the same time, abuses through offshore and tax “twists,” on the contrary, have decreased. Salaries pushed the four-year “leader,” smuggling and violating customs rules, to the second place. Their losses amounted to about

Sberbank received permission to change its name. The subsidiary of the Russian Sberbank was allowed to change its name in Ukraine until August 2022. It is noted that the reason for this decision was the need for the subsidiary of Sberbank to take several measures to change the name, the timing of which depends on third parties. Previously, Russia’s Sberbank was actively searching for a buyer for its Ukrainian subsidiary but claimed legal difficulties.

Monday, November 22

The budget revenue plan for the first three quarters of 2021 was exceeded by UAH 29 bln – announced Valery Patskan. “The reason of the surplus was due to over fulfillment of the plan of revenues from VAT, excise duty on goods imported into Ukraine and rent for subsoil use”, said Patskan.

In Ukraine, the level of non-cash payments increased to 9 out of 10 transactions – announced the NBU. “The share of non-cash payments in Ukraine has been constantly growing over the last two years. At present, the volume of non-cash payments is 61%, and the number of transactions is 90%. That is, 9 out of 10 transactions today are non-cash,” said Deputy Director of the Payment Systems, Vasilyeva.

Friday, November 19

The leading agricultural producer in Ukraine, Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) has reported profits of $377 mln in 2021. MHP which produces chicken meat for local and external markets is the leader in poultry production in Ukraine. It recently presented the financial results of its activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 which showed a net income increase to $377 mln. This compared to a loss of $109 mln during the same period of 2020. The key factors driving profits were the increase in exports by 8%, and the rise in chicken prices by 22%. The production

As of 1 December 2021, the NBU will increase the limits on banks’ open long and short FX positions from 10% to 15% of their regulatory capital. The NBU projects that the higher limits will expand by about $400 mln the banks’ ability to conduct interbank transactions within their FX positions. This will contribute to the banks’ greater role in smoothing out excessive exchange rate fluctuations on the FX market and enhancing liquidity and market depth in general, reported NBU.

Depositors of insolvent banks received almost UAH 50 million in returned funds in October. For 10 months of 2021, the Deposit Guarantee Fund of Individuals paid UAH 816.2 mln ($31 mln) in guaranteed compensation to depositors of insolvent banks, of which UAH 49.8 mln ($1.9 mln) in October 2021. The Individual Deposit Guarantee Fund reimburses depositors of insolvent banks in the amount of the deposit, including interest accrued at the end of the day preceding the day of the Fund’s withdrawal from the market, but not more than the maximum amount of compensation, which

Thursday, November 18

The National Bank of Ukraine reacted to the fourth consecutive day of growing demand for the US dollar in the Ukrainian interbank foreign exchange market, by curbing the sale of currency at the rate of UAH 26.55. As a result, the sellers put their quotes below the level of the regulator, as buyers received an “alternative” offered at the rate of the NBU and are now in no hurry to buy an expensive dollar, having the level of the National Bank, reported radiosvoboda.

British neobank Revolut has registered a subsidiary in Ukraine in September 2021. According to the state register of legal entities, the company is called LLC “Revolution Technologies Ukraine”, its beneficiary is Revolut Ltd. In May 2021, Revolut is now actively hiring employees for their Ukrainian operation, mostly for remote work.

Wednesday, November 17

The Ministry of Finance raised UAH 8.159 bln ($ 311 mln) in the placement of domestic government bonds. Investors were offered seven issues of securities in the national currency. The weighted average yield of 6-month IGLBs was 10.5%, 1-year – 11.55%, 1.5-year – 11.57%, 2-year – 12.47%, 3-year – 12.7%, 5-year-olds – 12.75%, and 6-year-olds – 13.25%. The greatest demand was concentrated on 1-year securities.

Mortgage rates in Ukraine fell this year by 1.5%. In September 2021, banks issued 943 mortgage loans worth UAH 812 mln ($31 mln). In total, in the first nine months of the year, banks issued more than 7500 mortgage loans totaling almost UAH 6.1 bln ($233 mln). Compared to the same period last year, new mortgage lending increased 2.7 times in monetary terms. In September, the weighted average effective mortgage rate was 15.4% in the primary market and 13.6% in the secondary market, announced the National Bank of Ukraine.

Tuesday, November 16

Ukraine’s real GDP in the third quarter of 2021 grew by 2.4% compared with 5.7 % growth in the third quarter of 2020. The statistic was published by the State Statistics Service on Monday. According to its data, in comparison to the previous quarter (seasonally adjusted), GDP increased by 1.4%.

Ukraine- EU cooperation plan with € 2.3 bln investment package. At a meeting with EU Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Vargei, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba discussed the Eastern Partnership’s economic and investment plan. The plan is backed by a € 2.3 bln investment package in the form of grants, guarantees, and mixed instruments, with the possibility of attracting up to € 17 bln of public and private investment.

Ukrgasbank announced record profits. For the first ten months of the year, the state-owned bank earned a record profit of UAH 2.7 bln ($103 mln). This financial result is almost four times higher than the profit for the same period in 2020. In October this year alone, the bank earned UAH 994 mln ($38 mln), announced the bank’s press service.

Monday, November 15

IMF to consider second stand-by tranche for Ukraine on November 22. The IMF Board of Directors plans to approve the results of the first revision of the stand-by program on November 22. In June 2020, the IMF approved a stand-by program for Kyiv with a total volume of about $ 5 bln, immediately allocating the first tranche of funding for $ 2.1 bln. Four reviews of the implementation of the program conditions were scheduled for the allocation of the remaining four tranches. However, the agreed schedule was violated, and funding was

Last week, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) purchased a record $858 mln in currency on the interbank market this year. Almost the entire amount of the purchased cash was the currency funds of the state-owned company NEC Ukrenergo, which placed 5-year Eurobonds under government guarantees for $ 825 mln and at a rate of 6.875% per annum. The company had to convert foreign currency funds from creditors into hryvnia for settlements with “green” energy generators.

Monobank’s new card, the cryptocurrency card, is awaiting approval from the NBU. “The has been waiting for approval from the NBU for three months. The launch of shares in Monobank that was scheduled for 2022 has been postponed”, said the co-founder of Monobank, Oleg Gorokhovsky. He noted that the card in bitcoins is ready and has been waiting for approval.

Ukrposhta is entering the retail banking market with the purchase of a bank valued at UAH 260 mln. Ukrposhta purchased Alpari Bank for UAH 260 mln ($9.9 mln). The Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Infrastructure, the owner of Ukrposhta, gave a green light for the agreement. Now the National Bank must give its consent to the purchase.

Friday, November 12

Consumer inflation in October 2021 slowed to 10.9% on a year-on-year period. It was higher than the NBU’s forecast. “Actual consumer inflation has slowed as expected but was slightly higher than the forecast published in the Inflation Report by NBU for October 2021. This is primarily due to significant side effects from rising energy prices”, the statement said. As a result, core inflation accelerated to 7.6% YoY in October from 7.4% YoY in September.

The Ministry of Finance has raised the forecast of payments on public debt in 2022 by ₴17.91 bln ($687 mln) to ₴456.4 bln ($17.4 bln). At the same time, the forecast for payments in 2021 was reduced by ₴2.1 bln ($80 mln) to ₴593.89 bln ($22.6 bln), for domestic debt by ₴1.05 bln ($40 mln) to ₴445 bln ($17 bln). The announcement was made by the Minister of Finance.

Ukraine banks have issued 1,060 loans valued at ₴916.7 mln, announced the Ministry of Finance. Authorized banks within the framework of the state program “Affordable Mortgage 7%” issued 1,059 loans totaling ₴916.73 mln ($35 mln). Of the total amount, 24.42% of loans were for the purchase of real estate on the primary market, and 75.58% for the purchase of real estate on the secondary market. Today, 19 authorized banks participate in the “Affordable Mortgage 7%” program.

The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has allowed MasterCard and Visa to reduce the interbank fee , announced the Chairperson of AMCU, Olga Pishchanskaya. This decision will help increase non-cash payments and reduce the cost of consumers of acquiring services. After obtaining the permission of the AMCU, Visa and Mastercard will begin a gradual reduction of the interchange commission interest rate limits. In particular, the commissions should be: from July 1, 2022, not more than 1.0%, and from July 1, 2023 – not more than 0.9%. Currently, the interbank fee is 1.2%

Thursday, November 11

The Ministry of Finance sold government bonds valued at ₴11.7 bln. The Ministry of Finance raised the equivalent of $446.6 mln for the budget when it auctioned domestic government bonds (IGLBs). Investors were offered seven issues of securities in national currency and one issue in foreign currency. The weighted average yield in national currency of 3-month IGLBs was 9.5%, 1-year IGLBs – 11.54%, 1.5-year IGLBs – 11.57%, 2-year IGLBs – 12.47%, 3-year IGLBs – 12.70% , 5-year-olds – 12.75%, and 6-year-olds – 13.25%. The greatest demand among hryvnia instruments was concentrated

The First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB) in negotiations to purchase Idea Bank. According to Forbes Ukraine, the potential transaction was confirmed by FUIB’s press service. The transaction is not complete, but in the coming days, the parties are likely to announce to the regulator the intention of FUIB to purchase Idea Bank.

Sberbank sees no prospects in Ukraine. The Chairman of Sberbank, Herman Gref, announced the sale of its Ukrainian subsidiary. City the lack of opportunities in Ukraine. Mr Gref said that the bank is currently actively looking for a sale option, as the financial institution in Ukraine is under “a whole bunch of complex sanctions.”

Banks earned more fees from IGLBs than on loans to households or businesses. For three quarters of 2021, Ukrainian banks earned interest income from securities transactions to the value of ₴41.8 bln ($1.6 bln). At the same time, interest income from lending to individuals was valued at ₴41.2 bln ($1.57 bln), and legal entities ₴39.1 bln ($1.49 bln). Privatbank was the leading State-owned bank that earned the most income from government lending.

The National Commission is expanding the state register of securities issues. The commission will supplement the state register with information on: Issues of the bank’s deposit certificates registered by the Central Depository; NSSMC registered issues of derivative securities: option certificates, stock warrants, credit notes, depository receipts; and, The regulator will also supplement the state register with information on ISIN codes (international securities identification numbers) and LEI codes (international legal entity identification codes in the case of a public offer).

Wednesday, November 10

The Deposit Guarantee Fund will auction 11 land plots that are owned by Arkada Bank. The fund reminded investors of the opportunity to purchase land plots of JSCB “ARKADA” located in the village of Mykhailivka-Rubezhivka, Kyiv-Sviatoshynskyi district, Kyiv region. The resale of these assets will take place on November 23, 2021, in the Prozorro.Sales system. In total, 11 land plots with a total area of 86.5 ha, intended for personal farming, will be put up for auction in separate lots.

The 2021 state budget deficit will be ₴170 bln ($ 6.46 bln) with an annual plan of ₴220 bln ($8.36 bln). The announcement was made by the Head of the Center for Analysis of Public Finances and Public Administration of the Kyiv School of Economics, Daryna Marchak. “According to our estimates, by the end of 2021, the deficit of the general fund of the state budget will be slightly lower than provided by the law on the state budget, given the savings on expenditures which we expect at 3% of the general

The government will attract up to €250 mln in loans from the USA. The Cabinet of Ministers will approve the loan from the US agricultural company, Cargill. The maturity of the three-year loan will be at 5.15%, and the five-year loan at 5.85%.

Ukraine may get a mobile online stock market trading platform. With the Ukrainian securities market is reviving, an online trading service will be launched, and the competition between mobile offers for clients will begin. Stock market players expressed this opinion at the recent 10th Ukrainian Banking Forum in Kyiv. “People prefer to go digital. I think we will see very healthy competition in the provision of online trading services both domestically and in foreign markets”, said Managing Director of Dragon Capital, Denys Matsuyev.

Tuesday, November 9

Ukraine has attracted a record amount of international investment since the beginning of 2021, said the Prime Minister, Denys Shmygal, on Facebook. Ukraine has attracted $ 4.8 bln in foreign direct investment (FDI) in three quarters of 2021. In the first half of the year, Ukraine drew $ 2.83 bln indirect investment, of which $ 2.33 billion came from the European Union.

Monday, November 8

Ukrgasbank signs agreements with UAE’s Mashreq Bank for a loan valued at $35 mln. Both banks concluded the first agreement on structured trade financing, according to a recent press statement. The amount of transaction totals about $35 mln, for a term of up to 60 days which will assist Ukraine in the import petroleum products for further processing and exports of already finished products.

Ukraine’s international reserves resumed growth and increased by 3.3% in October after falling sharply in September 2021 due to public debt payments, reported NBU. As of November 1, reserves amounted to $ 29.65 bln, which is 3.5% more than in September. The increase is primarily due to foreign exchange earnings in favor of the government and the purchase of currency by the regulator on the interbank market.

Monobank has increased its profits six-fold to $100 mln. “We are actively growing our customer base,” said Oleg Gorokhovsky, the co-founder of Monobank. The number of active mono cards as of September 2021 has grown to 4.3 mln, which is twice as many as in 2020. Mono’s retail loan portfolio grew 1.5 times over the year to ₴23.3 bln ($886 mln), making it the second-largest bank in the market in terms of retail loans.

Friday, November 5

The Verkhovna Rada passed a law establishing a Credit Guarantee Fund for farmers. The new law is designed to support small and medium businesses, including farms, by providing loan guarantees of up to 50% of the outstanding amount of principal for up to 10 years.

EBRD expects Ukraine’s economy to grow by 3.5 % in both 2021 and 2022, said a press release of the bank. Growth in 2021 will be fueled by a rich grain harvest and the continued normalization of business activities, though slow progress on reform and rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination remain major risks to the forecast. Inflation accelerated over the course of 2021 to 11.0 % in September fueled by rising food and energy prices. This prompted the National Bank of Ukraine to tighten monetary policy and raise the refinancing rate four times already,

The National Commission on Securities and Stock Market has admitted to circulation in Ukraine new securities of blue-chip companies including Nike, PepsiCo, Pfizer, and PayPal. The announcement was made by the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market of Ukraine. Ukrainian investors can take the opportunity to invest in 85 securities of foreign issuers. To see the full list of new securities added click here.