WSE-listed Kernel Holding, Ukraine’s largest sunflower oil producer and grain exporter, said it was informed by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) that administrative proceedings on delisting the company from the Warsaw Stock Exchange were suspended. The suspension was caused by the ongoing litigation initiated by a group of Kernel minority shareholders in the District Court of Luxembourg to challenge the Kernel Board of Directors’ decision to delist the company.

The average base load day-ahead (DAHD) electricity price fell by 17% m-o-m to UAH 3,100/MWh in February, still up 5% y-o-y.

Ukraine’s headline current account (C/A) deficit narrowed to $0.5bn in January from $0.7bn in December. The financial and capital account (F/A) balance, including IMF funds, slid $1.4bn into deficit in January from a $2.3bn surplus in December 2023.

According to Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine has exported around 28 Mt of commodities via three Black Sea ports since opening them in August, including 19 Mt of agricultural produce. February shipments totaled 8 Mt, including 5.2 Mt of agricultural commodities. In related news, the cargo vessel insurance scheme under UNITY Facility implemented by Marsh McLennan and Lloyd's of London in cooperation with the Ukrainian government was expanded to cover maritime transportation of all non-military cargoes via Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, such as iron ore, steel and containerized cargo.

Russian offensives remain concentrated in Donetsk region, particularly around Avdiyivka where Russian forces are attempting to capitalize on their recent advances; overall Russian gains still modest

A new UN survey of Ukrainian refugees in Europe put the share of those intending to return to Ukraine at 65% in January-February 2024, including 6% of those planning to come back in the next 12 months, down from 76% in July 2023 and 77% a year ago. At the same time, the share of respondents who scrapped plans to return rose to 11% from 6% in July 2023 and 5% a year ago, while 24% were undecided, up from 18%. The vast majority of refugees among those who stayed on abroad contrary to their earlier plans named security risks as the main reason (81%), while 20% cited damaged or destroyed property and 18% mentioned concerns about economic opportunities in Ukraine.

The IMF and Ukrainian authorities on Feb. 23 reached a staff level agreement on the third review of the Fund’s $15.6bn 4-year EFF program launched in March 2023, paving the way for its final approval by the IMF Board and subsequent publication of the Fund’s updated debt sustainability analysis (DSA). The revised DSA should define the parameters of Ukraine’s prospective debt operation encompassing $21.2bn of sovereign bonds, an est. $1.5bn of other commercial liabilities, and $5.7bn of bilateral debt.

The Ukrainian Energy Ministry disclosed several electricity consumption figures for January, reporting that industrial power consumption increased by 27.2% y-o-y and 3.5% m-o-m to 2.4 TWh while residential consumption rose by 13.5% y-o-y.

Interpipe said it might be unable to service its debt if the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) did not allow the company to buy foreign currency and make cross-border transfers for external debt service.

Ukraine has received $0.8bn of new foreign grants, $0.5bn from Japan and $0.3bn from Norway. The funds were channeled via the World Bank as part of a project aimed at reimbursing Ukraine’s non-military budget expenditures such as pensions and compensations to educational and emergency service employees.

Metinvest has repurchased and cancelled EUR 61.4m of its 2025 Eurobonds, reducing the outstanding total to EUR 234m.

The European Parliament approved yesterday a regulation on revising the EU’s long-term budget for 2021-2027, including establishing a EUR 50bn aid program for Ukraine (Ukraine Facility). According to the document, the EUR 50bn program will be divided into EUR 33bn of concessional loans and EUR 17bn of grants and split along three pillars: EUR 38.3bn for direct budgetary support (EUR 33bn of loans and EUR 5.3bn of grants), EUR 7.0bn of grants to support investment and provide access to financing for business projects, and EUR 4.8bn of grants for technical assistance and to cover loan interest costs. The document also allows using revenues from immobilized Russian assets for financing the program’s grant component. In addition, the legislation envisages the possibility to provide bridge financing for the budget for a period of up to six months starting from Jan. 1, 2024, subject to Ukraine making satisfactory progress preparing a detailed reform plan underpinning the aid program (“Ukraine Plan”). This bridge financing is limited to EUR 1.5bn per month and will be provided as loans.

The Ministry of Finance placed UAH 5.3bn ($137m) of hryvnia-denominated bonds and $140m of USD paper at a primary auction yesterday.

Ukraine’s direct and guaranteed public debt stood at $145bn as of end-January, flat m-o-m and up 24% y-o-y.

Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov said the company and its 50% owned subsidiary Ukrnafta plan to extract 15 bcm of sellable natural gas in 2024, which would be sufficient to prepare for the next heating season without importing additional volumes. Naftogaz put 86 new wells into operation last year.

According to Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine has exported around 26 Mt of commodities via three of its Black Sea ports since opening them in August, including 18 Mt of agricultural produce. On a related note, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference yesterday that Ukraine was looking to further expand its seaborne export trade by reopening the port of Mykolaiv, expressing hope that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could facilitate such a deal. Additionally, Kubrakov said last week Ukraine would soon increase container shipment via its Danube ports and plans were afoot to resume container shipping via the Black Sea ports soon.