Lviv economic court grants the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) over $4.1 million of real estate belonging to oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. The case is one of 148 the NBU opened against PrivatBank’s previous co-owner, Kolomoisky, and his companies in 2018, the NBU said. PrivatBank was nationalized in 2016 and recapitalized with state money after a $5.5-billion hole was discovered in its ledgers. Since then, the bank’s new management and NBU have been at war in court with the bank’s previous owners. Kolomoisky’s Dniprometalservic company offered the real estate in question as collateral to receive a refinancing loan for PrivatBank from the NBU in 2014 before nationalization.
By 2050, Ukraine aims to have 70% renewable energy and not use coal, Energy Minister Oleksiy Orzhel said while presenting the country’s green energy concept, the Ekonomichna Pravda news site reported, citing the Interfax agency. The country has scenarios for achieving the goal of getting 70% of the energy it uses from renewable sources, but “the most important thing is that this development must be economically sound,” Orzhel said. Nuclear energy will be the second-biggest source.
84% of NBU’s foreign exchange reserves are securities with high ratings, largely U.S. Treasury securities with an AAA rating, the NBU said. Around 11% are cash holdings, deposits and funds in correspondents’ accounts. The rest (roughly 5%) is monetary gold. Such a foreign reserves structure follows international practice, the NBU said. As of Jan. 1, 2020, Ukraine’s forex reserves reached a seven-year record: $25.3 million, according to the central bank.
India’s Spectrum Pharmatech Consultants plans to build a pharmaceuticals factory with its own development center in Odesa, the Odesa City Council press service announced. Company representatives met with Odesa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov on Jan. 20 to discuss the plans. When launched, the factory will create jobs in Odesa and lower the cost of drugs for Ukrainians, the press service said. Spectrum Pharmatech Consultants already has a factory in Ukraine: Kusum Pharm in the city of Sumy.
Ukrainian startup Meredot is valued at 1.3 million euros. The company attracted investment from pre-seed venture fund Overkill, online tech journal AIN.ua reported on Jan. 21. The firms don’t disclose the amount of money invested, but the startup, which develops wireless chargers, claims it was valued at 1.3 million euros. The fund usually invests up to 220,000 euros.
Ukrainian mobile operators have started refarming radio frequencies to boost 4G. Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell filed a joint note signaling their readiness to re-configure frequencies and hold a tender for them in the future, the State Center of Radio Frequencies reported on Jan. 21. Once the carriers have these frequencies reconfigured, they can start using them to improve their 4G networks so that mobile internet works even in remote areas of Ukraine.
Kyiv Boryspil airport has cut 30% of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flights. Compared to last year, the airline has significantly fewer flights to Ukraine’s central airport as the company “implements a financial recovery strategy,” Boryspil head Pavlo Ryabikin told Business Censor on Jan. 21.
Ukraine is exporting 26% more poultry. Chicken and chicken byproduct exports increased by up to 414,000 tons in 2019, Interfax-Ukraine reported on Jan. 21, citing the State Customs Service. In monetary terms, exports of these products increased by 14.2%, reaching $578 million.
20 of 35 factories controlled by state alcohol monopoly UkrSpyrt are not suitable for making ethanol alcohol, according to the Economy Ministry. Of the 20, four are in too poor of technical shape to produce alcohol, while the other 16 need serious modernization. UkrSpyrt has long been plagued by corruption and is widely regarded as one of the least efficient state companies in Ukraine. In December, Zelensky signed a law abolishing its monopoly on producing potable alcohol. The government has decided to transfer all 35 UkrSpyrt factories to the State Property Fund for privatization — an idea that has been discussed for years.
Inside Government. “We have two job markets in Ukraine: one has educated people who have business and language skills, and these people are in demand,” says Economy Minister Tymofiy Mylovanov in an interview published in The Report Company and Newsweek’s Ukraine supplement. “But for people without a PhD in economics, who don’t speak English, who lack the soft skills required by today’s job market, it is not so good. So as we invest in technology, we create an industrial base for the economic process, we create infrastructure, we create new companies…
“But we need to bring people along for the ride. If we don’t do that properly, we create an additional social burden in terms of unemployment benefits, and we create political resistance to change. This is a critical issue, and it has not been done properly over these past years of change, preventing Ukraine from taking off.”
