• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has opened a regional office in Kharkiv, Interfax Ukraine reported. This is the second EBRD office opened with the financial support of the EU in the framework of EU4Business initiative. The third one is to open in Odesa in February.

• German company Prettl Kabelkonfektion GMBH opened a plant in Chernivtsi that Prime Minister Volodomyr Groysman said will create 1,000 jobs, according to Interfax Urkaine. Automotive Electric Ukraine LLC will manufacture electric cable products for cars. Groysman said the company, which has another plant in Kamyanets-Podilsky and has been in Ukraine for 18 years, had invested $3 million in the new plant.

• Nibulon transported about 300,000 tons of grain and oilseeed along the Southern Bug River in 2016, six times greater than the top volumes during the Soviet period, Interfax Ukraine reported. Besides increasing its cargo carriage on inland waterways, Nibulon is reviving passenger transportation in Ukraine. Two Nibulon Express hydrofoils were added to the company’s fleet and have undergone trial runs

• The EBRD and government officials are hope an agreement on financing subway expansion in Kharkiv will be signed in the first half of 2017. According to plans under discussion, the EBRD will issue a long-term loan of $175 million and the European Investment Bank will simultaneously loan the same amount. The money will pay construction of a subway line in the direction of the airport.

• Ukraine's government plans to funnel at least 1% of GDP into an increase in charter capital of state-owned Oschadbank and Ukreximbank and into financial support of the Deposit Guarantee Fund in 2017, according to National Bank of Ukraine, Unian reported.

• Researchers discovered large offshore deposits of natural gas in the Odesa region, according to several news reports. Agency head Mykola Boyarkin said the area encompasses 7,000 square meters and is estimated to contain at least 40 billion cubic meters of gas.

• The government energy regulator intends to lower electricity tariffs on industrial consumers starting Jan. 1, multiple news agencies reported.

• The State Grain Production Factory of Ukraine, or GPZKU, is assessing the market value of its assets in preparation for privatization, Novoe Vremya reported. Management chairman Alexander Grigorovich said that initial calculations determine that the company has a fair market value of $152 million.

• Inspectors in Russia's Voronezh region rejected 25 tons of Ukrainian potatoes being delivered by truck. They said the delivery lackerequired documents several sources reported.

• A plan to end privatization efforts at the Odesa portside chemical plant and to reshuffle the plant management is underway, a source close to the process told Ekonomicheskaya Pravda. A former assistant, Igor Kononenko, would become the new head of the plant.

• Ukraine is interested in increasing imports of coffee, tea, exotic fruits and nuts from Kenya, and Kenya, in turn, is interested in supplies of Ukrainian grain, flour, apples, juice concentrates, seeds and feeds for poultry and fish farming, Ukrinform reported.

For comments and news tips, please email UBJ AM editor David Edwards at david.edwards@theubj.com.