Ukraine’s gross external debt by the end of March 2020 amounted to $120.33 billion, which is $1.41 billion, or 1.2% less than a quarter earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said.
According to his data, in relation to GDP, the debt decreased from 78.6% to 76%.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) starting from June 26 will resume domestic flights in Ukraine.
The press service of the airline said on Tuesday that the first, in particular, flights are launched from Kyiv to Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Zaporizhia. In July, flights will start between Kharkiv and Lviv, Kharkiv and Odesa, Lviv and Odesa, as well as Lviv and Kherson.
According to the current schedule, flights from Kyiv to Lviv and Odesa are planned on June 26, from Kyiv to Kharkiv and Zaporizhia on June 29, as well as from Lviv and Odesa to Kyiv, and June 30 from Kyiv to Lviv.
In addition, ticket sales will also start for flights from July 1 to September 15 for the following destinations:
– Kyiv-Lviv (daily, except Sunday), Lviv-Kyiv (daily, except Saturday);
– Kyiv-Odesa-Kyiv (daily, 11 times a week);
– Kyiv-Kharkiv-Kyiv (daily, except Sunday);
– Kyiv-Zaporizhia (daily, except Saturday), Zaporizhia-Kyiv (daily, except Sunday);
– Kharkov-Lviv-Kharkiv (Tuesday, Friday, Sunday);
– Kharkiv-Odesa-Kharkiv (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday);
– Lviv-Kherson-Lviv (Monday, Thursday, Saturday);
– Lviv-Odesa-Lviv (Tuesday, Friday, Sunday).
The cost of tickets starts from UAH 500 for a one way ticket without baggage.
At the same time, the airline said that minor changes in the schedule are possible for some flights starting from July 16.
Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko predicts the commissioning of the state project of the Babyn Yar memorial complex in 2021.
“You know about the existence of the state project Babyn Yar, which is now being completed, and will be put into operation next year during the anniversary of Babyn Yar,” Tkachenko said on the air of ICTV on Monday evening.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) plans to resume flights to Georgia and Albania from July 1, 2020, and to other countries stipulated by the schedule before lockdown is introduced from July 15, if cancellation of entry bans is carried out according to preliminary arrangements between countries.
According to the company’s press release on Saturday, June 20, passengers are advised to review the requirements for entering the country of destination and the rules for returning to Ukraine before purchasing a ticket, as well as make sure that they have all the necessary approvals for the trip.
“If a passenger purchases a ticket to a country, rules of entry into which the passenger cannot comply with, the refund for an unused air ticket will be carried out according to the fare, but can last up to six months,” SkyUp said.
According to the airline’s data, since March 2020, SkyUp Airlines has received about 286,000 applications regarding compensation for tickets that were not used through the flight ban. However, passengers have already received EUR 13,186 and UAH 1.9 million of reimbursements, while some 4,700 passengers have issued promotional codes for a total of UAH 38.1 million.
The company also said that since the beginning of lockdown, their support service has been operating in the overloaded mode, that is, during all that time up to 13,000 applications were received daily. Therefore, due to the fact that it was physically impossible to process all of them within the period of three to five days, as under normal conditions, the time for feedback increased.
In order to resolve this issue, SkyUp is introducing the application processing automated system. This means that the passenger, after registering on the airline’s website in a personal online account, will be able to independently choose the type of reimbursement that suits him, and passengers who have previously applied for a refund, according to their wish, change the status of the application for a promotional code or transfer dates if, on a previously submitted application, a refund invoice has not been issued yet. Functionality will be available approximately in three weeks.
“The introduction of lockdown at the international level significantly affected the aviation in general, and SkyUp is no exception in this global crisis of air transportation. For us and for many airlines as well, that period made it impossible to fully perform operational activities. Therefore, we have neither the opportunity nor the economic means in order to immediately refund to all people who made the request. We understand the wish of passengers to return their funds as soon as possible. Now we need to be patient, because this process will take longer than usual. We will return the funds gradually,” the airline’s press service said, citing Director General of SkyUp Airlines Yevhen Khainatsky.
Almost half of Ukrainians note deterioration in the health system from the beginning of lockdown measures.
This is evidenced by the results of a study conducted by Active Group sociological company and presented at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Monday, June 22.
Head of Active Group sociological company Oleksandr Pozniy said that in particular, some 28.4% of respondents believe that with the beginning of lockdown the situation in the health system has deteriorated slightly, while some 21.4% of respondents believe that the situation has deteriorated significantly.
However, some 25.9% of respondents believe that with the beginning of lockdown the situation improved, while some 24.3% found it difficult to answer.
Pozniy said that some 34.6% of Ukrainians surveyed assessed the first stage of medical reform positively or generally positively, while some 46.4% of respondents rated the first stage of the reform more negatively or negatively.
The reform was assessed as positive one by respondents aged 30-39 years, while respondents over 50 years old gave the largest number of negative assessments to the first stage of medical reform.
According to Active Group, the survey was conducted by telephone interview on June 7-9. Some 1,236 respondents were interviewed in all regions of Ukraine, except for the uncontrolled territories and Crimea. The study is representative by age, gender and place of residence. The sampling error does not exceed 2.8%.
The consumer confidence index in Ukraine in May 2020 improved by 10.1 points, to 76.3 points on a 200-point scale, and Ukrainians’ assessment of their current situation by 5.9 points, to 57.4 points, according to the research agency Info Sapiens.
“The consumer confidence Index in May increased and reached the level of March 2020. The main factor of growth is the improvement of expectations regarding personal financial situation, which is probably related to the termination of strict quarantine. At the same time, assessments of current personal financial situation and the propensity to make big purchases remain low and have not returned to the pre-quarantine level,” Info Sapiens analysts comment.
“The Index of Propensity to Consume (х5) increased by 9.8 p. and reached the indicator of 55.1. The Index of Current Personal Financial Standing (х1) equaled 54.3, which is 2.0 points higher than the indicator in April,” the agency said on its website.
“In May, Index of Economic Expectations (ІЕE) increased by 12.9 points to the level of 90.7. The components of this index have changed as follows: the Index of Expected Changes in Personal Financial Standing (х2) increased by 22.7 points comparing to the previous month and equals 92.5, the Index of Expectations of the Country’s Economic Development over the next year (х3) increased by 19.1 points and equals 73.7, the Index of Expectations of the Country’s Economic Development over the next 5 years (х4) slightly decreased to the level of 106.0, which is 3.2 points lower than in April,” according to the document.
“In May, the indicator of Index of Expectations of Changes in Unemployment equaled 151.8, which is 17.1 p. lower than previous month. The Index of Inflationary Expectations decreased to the level of 165.4, which is 7.2 points lower than last month. Expectations of Ukrainians regarding the hryvnia’s exchange rate in the coming three months have improved: the Index of Devaluation Expectations decreased by 10.3 points and reached the level of 136.5,” the agency said.
