France will invest over 100 million euros in Luhansk Oblast, the regional administration stated, according to an Interfax press release. Governor Serhiy Haidai, met with the French ambassador, Etienne de Poncins, in Kyiv to discuss financing opportunities for railway connections to Luhansk. “The meeting… had good results for our region. We agreed on several issues and our French partners will provide financing for them. The amount of investment is estimated at more than 100 million euros,” governor’s press service quoted Haidai as saying.
Burisma gas company plans to drill 15 more Ukrainian wells in 2020, the company reported. The firm, linked to the recent impeachment scandal in the U.S. and to Hunter Biden, the son of former U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, also said it wants to actively develop its ground infrastructure through 2020. Burisma plans to overhaul four more of its existing gas wells in Ukraine. “Despite unfavorable market conditions, the overall strategy of Burisma Group remains unchanged: we continue to invest in the exploration and development of new areas to increase domestic hydrocarbon production,” Burisma board member Karina Zlochevska said, according to the press service.
The state SBU security service conducted searches at the Seaports Administration. The Prosecutor General’s Office, together with the SBU, conducted the raids at premises of the state-owned enterprises of the Odesa Commercial Sea Port and the Administration of Seaports (AMPU). According to a press spokesperson at the prosecutor’s office, the leadership of these state-owned enterprises may be involved in large-scale abuses, reports Censor.net.
Ukrainian banks recorded about $2.5 billion in profit through 2019, according to the latest and most complete official statistics. State-owned PrivatBank is ahead of 68 other profitable banks by far, recording $1.33 billion in profit by itself. This is good news for PrivatBank customers, who are likely to feel more assured of their bank’s stable position, but also for the Ukrainian government, which receives 90% of that profit paid back into state coffers as dividends. That effectively makes PrivatBank one of the nation’s largest taxpayers. Six of Ukraine’s much smaller banks remain unprofitable.
To improve the weak lending climate, three Ukrainian banks that are not state-owned have joined a government program on affordable lending for businesses, UNIAN reports. Three private banks — Lviv, Kredobank and FUIB — joined the state program for entrepreneurs called “5-7-9.” The fund will implement a state support program for small and medium-sized businesses, which will allow participants to obtain a loan of up to UAH 1.5 million ($60,000) at ratesof 5%, 7% or 9% per annum to create or expand their own business. A lack of affordable credit in Ukraine has frequently been highlighted as a major obstacle for small and medium-sized businesses.
The Ukrainian hryvnia has fallen very slightly against the dollar, depreciating by eight kopecks, despite a one kopeck uptick on Feb. 18, the National Bank of Ukraine reports. The hryvnia currently stands at 24.52 against the U.S. dollar, partly due to artificial strengthening by the NBU. The overall trend for the national currency is looking stable. Through 2019 it strengthened against the U.S. dollar by 14.5% in total — up to Hr 23.69.
Ukraine needs to grow by 6% per year for 20 years to reach Poland’s current level, a top IMF representative has said, Interfax reported. Current growth rates at the current level, with partial reforms and an average GDP growth of 4% will only solve half of the problem, IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine Goesta Ljungman said. Frequent comparisons to Poland are sometimes labelled as unfair, as Ukraine is not a member of the European Union and is also fighting a half-decade war against Russia, which has stolen parts of its most economically productive territory.
Good news for Ukrainian fishing: an almost 10% increase in catch through 2019. The total fish and other aquatic biological resources catch (mussels, moluscs, oysters, etc.) in Ukraine over 2019 grew by 9.7% compared with 2018 to 97,200 tons, according to the State Fisheries Agency of Ukraine.
