Page 40 - UKRRptJan21
P. 40
purchased almost $300m.”
In Ukraine, often associated as the world's breadbasket, the inflow of foreign exchange from the agrarian sector accounts for 40% of GDP. In 2020 the agrarian exports already decreased by 7% to $12.5bn due to the lower harvest and reduced prices for grain, oilseeds and products, according to UCAB analyst Ivan Kolodiazhnyi. While producers still observed an increase in export of sunflower oil (+21%), wheat (+6%) and barley (+37%), other crops did worse this year – corn (-12%), soybeans (-48%) and rapeseed (-29%).
8.0 Financial & capital markets 8.1 Bank sector overview
Ukraine’s banking sector remained impressively healthy throughout 2020 and finished the year on a high. The banking sector posted a sectorial profit of UAH43,365mn ($1.5bn), which was still down on the 2019 result, but on a monthly basis the banking sector recorded its highest month-on-month profit in four years of UAH6,302 ($223mn), according to National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
The banking sector has benefited from the clean up work carried out by the previous management under first former NBU governor Valeriya Gontareva who took over the job in 2014 and then her successor Yakiv Smolii, who unexpectedly quit on June 2 in 2020 citing “systemic political pressure” as the
40 UKRAINE Country Report January 2021 www.intellinews.com
