The cost of square meter of housing in new buildings in Ukraine in January-June 2021 grew by 10-20% depending on the readiness of the facility and the region, Director General of the Financial and Investment Management Association (FIMA) Viktoria Volkovska has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“We have analyzed dozens of housing facilities throughout Ukraine that work with construction financing funds. The overwhelming majority indicate an increase in the cost of square meter. At the same time, we have a situation where the cost of housing is growing faster than the price,” she said.
According to a survey conducted by FIMA, 76.9% of respondents reported an increase in the cost of square meter by 10-20%, and 7.7% told about an increase of more than 20%. Only 15.4% of respondents said that the cost of housing has not changed significantly.
In addition, only 10% of respondents reported a decrease in the volume of construction work, while 40% reported an increase of more than 20%, 10% – a 20% increase, and 20% – a 10% increase.
The FIMA study is based on an online survey of construction finance fund managers conducted following the results of the first half of 2021.
The Financial and Investment Management Association (FIMA) was established in May 2020 in connection with the entry into force of the law on amendments to certain legislative acts concerning improving the functions of public administration of financial services markets. It unites 41 financial companies that manage FFS funds in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv.
The first 2 million doses of Moderna vaccine against the COVID-19 coronavirus, donated by the United States of America on the COVAX initiative, have arrived in Ukraine, UNICEF has reported.
“The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) delivered today 2,000,040 doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the American company Moderna, to Ukraine. This batch of vaccines is donated by the U.S. Government through the global COVAX Facility,” the message reads.
As noted, this batch of COVID vaccine will be used to do vaccinations by mobile teams of organized and professional groups of the previous stages of vaccination.
“Our main goal is to protect as many Ukrainians against COVID-19 as possible. We are thankful to partners who stand with us. We are now accelerating vaccination roll-out, so everyone could have access to vaccines. I urge all Ukrainians who not yet got their shots to come and get vaccinated in the mass vaccination centers to protect their health,” said Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health of Ukraine
It is noted that Moderna is an mRNA vaccine. It requires special storage and transportation, which is provided by the United States Agency for International Development USAID.
The Solway Investment Group international investment group, owning Pobuzhsky Ferronickel Plant (PFP, Kirovohrad region), at the end of 2020, maintained its consolidated revenue at the level of 2019, $624.2 million.
According to the company’s report, its EBITDA was $167 million with a margin of 26.7% in 2020, the cost of production decreased by 6.3% yea year-over-year, to $438.9 million.
“Solway has a cash balance in excess of financial debt, and, as a result, the ratio of net debt to EBITDA at the end of 2020 is below zero,” the company said in a press release.
At the same time, it is noted: despite the problems due to the pandemic, the work of Solway remains stable and safe. They managed to prevent the closure of enterprises and avoid social and economic consequences in the regions of their activity. Continuous operation was maintained and some plants even exceeded production targets.
According to the statement, the group’s actions were based on two key priorities, protecting the health and safety of employees and local communities, and laying the foundations for sustainable development and long-term economic recovery.
Solway’s strategic vision creates circular economic returns and prioritizes long-term growth over short-term profits.
“We strive to reduce the impact of our production on the environment, to comprehensively assess its impact when planning investment projects. We effectively use natural resources, raw materials and energy locally,” the company said in the press release.
In 2020, Solway has been actively pursuing the issue of reducing its carbon footprint. One of the main assets of the group, PFP, has been implementing a project to rehabilitate gas processing plants for several years in order to reduce emissions by 99.9%. The advanced stage of the project was reached in 2020.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine will take additional measures to respond to the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov has said.
“You know that two new variants, Delta and Lambda, have appeared, which today cause concern about their spread on the territory of our country. The Minister of Health, Mr. Liashko, was heard and the Cabinet of Ministers will take additional measures to respond to this threat in the near future, because it is very dangerous. Because, as you know, to our great regret, they already concern not only the adult population – they also concern children,” Danilov said at a briefing following the NSDC meeting in Kyiv on Friday.
The NSDC secretary also said that Ukraine intends to toughen the requirements for the entry of citizens from countries with the spread of the Indian strain.
“We have four countries plus one, there will be strict restrictions on these countries, directly where [the Indian strain] is raging, these are India, Russia, Belarus and two more EU countries. And we will demand to reduce the number of people who will come from there,” he said.
“Moreover, we do not exclude that the Cabinet will take additional measures in these countries. The Health Ministry will announce them publicly,” Danilov said.
On July 15, the Presszvanie project, with the support of the Experts Club, held another webinar for journalists entitled “How Figures and Facts Lie to Us, and What to Do with This.”
Oleksandr Kramarenko, the editor-in-chief of the Dengi and Korrespondent magazines, spoke about how to correctly operate with figures and facts within the framework of data journalism, how to adequately use critical thinking and data presentation techniques.
The webinar video is available at
