By Ben Aris in Berlin Ukraine’s banking sector had a strong year in 2023, ending with a cumulative UAH85.5bn profit, despite taking a UAH44bn hit in December when the banks were forced to pay a 50% one-off tax on profits. And the sector is on course to have the same strong year in 2024, earning UAH16.8bn in January (chart), ahead of last year’s UAH14.9bn in the same month, and UAH9.1bn in February, giving a cumulative total for the first two months of the year of UAH25.9bn, ahead of the UAH21.5bn in the first two months of last year. (chart) The tax burden on bank profits is a more moderate 25…