Business Update: April 22 – EU allocates 1.2 billion euros for Ukraine, Zelensky wants Antonov airline

The European Commission has allocated 1.2 billion Euros to Ukraine to fight the economic consequences of COVID-19. The EC, which is the executive branch of the 27-member European Union, announced the decision in Brussels on Wednesday April 22 amid heightened concerns over Ukraine’s ability to weather the economic pain inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. The country faces rising unemployment, shrinking GDP and an increased budget deficit. 

The EC said in a statement: “The Commission has adopted a proposal for a EUR 3 billion macro-financial assistance (MFA) package to ten enlargement and neighborhood partners [countries that are in the expansion and neighborhood policy] to help them to limit the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. It represents an important demonstration of the EU’s solidarity with these countries at a time of unprecedented crisis,” the press release published by Interfax reads, adding that 1.2 billion is for Ukraine. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “This is an unprecedented amount of macro-financial assistance. The EU’s decision is not only a manifestation of solidarity in difficult times. This is evidence that Ukraine was not mistaken in making the European choice. Indeed, a friend in need is a friend in deed.” 

Pharmaceutical companies in Ukraine are carrying out a number of clinical trials on drugs that can treat the symptoms and effects of the COVID-19 disease, Zelensky confirmed on April 22. Ukraine has recorded 467 new cases of COVID-19 over the past day with 13 fatal cases, the Health Ministry added. Some 6,592 cases resulting in 174 deaths were recorded and confirmed in the country amid scattered reports of packed hospital wards and under equipped medical staff.

Ukraine exported agricultural products worth $5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2020 – 6% more than a year ago, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) has reported. According to a report on the association’s website, the COVID-19 crisis has had minimal effect on the trade in agricultural products in the first quarter of 2020, despite initial concerns over supply line disruption and commodity prices. 

The country has increased its exports of grains and legumes by about 20% over the last year, official statistics reported by Interfax show. Since the beginning of the 2019/2020 agricultural year (July-June) and as of April 22, 2020, Ukraine has exported 48.95 million tons of grain and legumes, which is 8.25 million tons more than on the same date the year before. 

President Zelensky wants to establish a state airline for Ukraine with a fleet of aircraft manufactured by the Antonov state-owned enterprise. He said this in a documentary film on Channel 24 on April 21. Zelensky said of the planned airline: “Antonov is a large enterprise with a large number of jobs. Not a single aircraft has been built in recent years. I do not understand why our planes do not fly on domestic flights. Where are our ANs (aircraft manufactured by Antonov state concern)? We agreed with them, now we are developing a program, and we will do it. We have to create a state airline. It is my dream to create a state-owned modern airline at the level of Turkish Airlines or Singapore Airlines. The state is ready to allocate money for this,” he said.

The state would not only create a national airline but would also provide orders to the Antonov aircraft company – creating additional jobs for the country, the president said. Zelensky did not elaborate about the source of funding for the ambitious new project. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s gargantuan Antonov Mriya An-225 broke two more world records this week, reports Simple Flying magazine. The iconic plane broke the world record for the most substantial volume of cargo ever carried in one week, and then broke it again, while transporting vital medical supplies from China to Europe to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The first record for cargo was set by the Mriya on April 14 when it took off from Tianjin, China to deliver medical supplies to Warsaw Poland. In a social media post, the aircraft charters KGHM, a Polish metallurgy and mining company, said it was transporting millions of face masks, thousands of protective overalls and helmets. In total the cargo equated to 1000 cubic meters, the largest volume of cargo the six-engine monster had ever carried. Antonov broke the world record days later when it brought another huge shipment of supplies to France. 

Registration of Ukrainian private entrepreneurs during quarantine has fallen by 67%. Around 1,580 new private entrepreneurs were registered last week, while a week before the announcement of quarantine 5,160 Ukrainians registered as private entrepreneurs, according to OpenDataBot, as cited by Interfax. 

Ukraine’s richest man, the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, has lost 80% of his capital in the last seven years, Bloomberg reports. The fortune of the owner of SCM holding and energy giant DTEK has for seven years seen his fortune drop from an estimated $22.4 billion to $4.26 billion, or by 80%, according to Bloomberg research reported by Liga.net in Ukraine. The agency notes that Akhmetov’s fall in their ranking of billionaires is one of the most significant. This was influenced by both Russia’s war against Ukraine war in the Donbas and changes to the energy and metals business.