Business

Sberbank has no plans to sell its Ukrainian business, TASS quoted Aleksandr Morozov, deputy chairman of the board of Russia’s largest savings bank, as saying. He added that the Ukrainian business “generates income.”

Trade turnover between Georgia and Russia in January-April 2016 increased by 17.1 percent compared to the same period last year, the National Statistics Office of Georgia said on Wednesday. Trade turnover between the two countries totaled $256.2 million in the first four months of 2016. It was around $218.8 million in January-April 2015, TASS said. Russia is now Georgia’s third-largest foreign trade partner, behind Turkey and Canada.

Piraeus Bank narrowed its losses in the first quarter, helped by a sharp drop in provisions for impaired loans, it said on Wednesday. Greece’s largest lender by assets reported a loss of €37 million (US$41 million) after a net loss of €1.24 billion in the last quarter of 2015, Reuters said. Piraeus is 26.2 percent owned by Greece’s bank rescue fund HFSF after its recapitalization late last year.

Gazprom is considering the possibility of new projects for gas transit in southern Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday. He was speaking after talks with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto. “Nord Stream 2 is not a Russian initiative, this is an initiative of a number of the EU companies,” TASS quoted Lavrov as saying. “I am sure if the European Commission approaches the issue of European energy security objectively and does not treat it from a purely political position related to the need to provide Ukrainian transit, we can find solutions that will satisfy everyone,” the minister said.

France has started using its fuel reserves to deal with gasoline shortages caused by strikes and protests over a labor reform bill, AP reports. Unions protesting plans to weaken worker protections are targeting the nation’s gas tanks, railroads and electricity network. The government has approved the use of fuel stocks for the past two days, according to the head of the group overseeing France’s petroleum industry, UFIP. Francis Duseux said there are about three months of reserves, attributing fuel shortages to panic buying.

The supervisory board of Ukraine’s biggest oil company Ukrnafta is convening a special meeting of shareholders after acknowledging the company may be insolvent, according to a release from Naftogaz Ukraine. The company needs to “adopt measures aimed at financial rehabilitation and restoration of the company’s solvency,” it said. A decision was made to prepare the company for financial readjustment prior to the initiation of bankruptcy procedures. Ukrnafta Chairman Mark Rollins was instructed to negotiate with the State Fiscal Service. The supervisory board also requested Ukrnafta management provide information regarding crude oil sales and advance payment operations for 2015.