The grant support of the European Union (EU) for the development of agriculture and small-sized farms in Ukraine envisages EUR 26 million, including EUR 10 million will be sent to implement the land reform. According to the documents to the agreement, which are available at Interfax-Ukraine, it is planned to allocate EUR 8 million for reform in the field of rural development, and EUR 7.5 million for support of small farms. The remaining EUR 0.5 million is planned to be spent on audit, inspection expenses and information interaction, as well as ensuring publicity.
Support for land reform under the agreement will be carried out under the indirect management of the World Bank.
The implementation period of the agreement is 108 months from the date of its entry into force.
As reported, the government of Ukraine and the European Commission signed an agreement on support for the development of agriculture and small farming in Ukraine in the amount of EUR 26 million in Brussels on January 28.
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of January 29
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 29/01/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
A biogas plant for processing plant waste and generating electricity is to be built in Kyiv, Kostiantyn Yalovy, the head of the standing commission on environmental policy at Kyiv City Council, has said.
“I haven’t written about a biogas plant in the capital for a long time. This is equipment that will be able to process plant waste in an environmentally friendly way, resulting in biogas and organic fertilizers,” he wrote on Facebook.
According to Yalovy, the corresponding draft order is being approved by Kyiv City State Administration.
According to the project, the customer of the construction will be municipal enterprise Kyivzelenbud, the design and estimate work will cost UAH 3 million.
“Biogas received will be generated in electricity and launched into the network at a feed-in tariff,” the official said.
The deficit of Ukraine’s state budget for 2019 was UAH 78.05 billion with the ceiling set in the national budget being UAH 91.13 billion, while in 2018 the deficit of the national budget was UAH 59.25 billion with the ceiling of UAH 94.1 billion. According to the updated information posted by the State Treasury Service of Ukraine on its website, the deficit of the general fund was UAH 68.85 billion with the ceiling being UAH 69.62 billion.
In the early days of this year, the Ministry of Finance, citing recent data from the State Treasury Service, reported on the deficit of the national budget last year in the amount of UAH 72.4 billion, or 1.8% of GDP.
The 2019 state budget deficit was almost entirely funded by borrowings, as revenues from privatization amounted to only UAH 550 million, i.e. 3.2% of the initial budget assignment.
In accordance with the updated data of the State Treasury Service, the national budget receipts for 2019 increased 7.6%, to UAH 998.28 billion, including growth of 5.5% for the general fund, to UAH 879.83 billion.
Compared with the indicators laid down in the law on the national budget, the receipts target was met by 99.1%, including 96.9% for the general fund.
Last year, national budget expenditures amounted to UAH 1.073 trillion, which is 8.7% more than the expenses of the national budget 2018, including growth of 8.4% for the general fund, to UAH 952.98 billion.
Compared with the indicators laid down in the law on the national budget, the expenditure target was met by 98.2%, including 96.9% for the general fund.
The national budget of Ukraine for 2020 was approved with receipts of UAH 1.095 trillion, including UAH 975.17 billion for the general fund, and expenditure of UAH 1.182 trillion, including UAH 1.052 trillion for the general fund. The ceiling for the deficit is set at UAH 94.3 billion, or 2.09% of forecast GDP.
The idea of an “investment nanny” for investors includes signing agreements with the government of Ukraine on specific conditions in case of violation of which the Cabinet of Ministers will respond in international courts, Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Tymofiy Mylovanov has said. “The idea of an “investment nanny” is that the government of Ukraine signs specific conditions with the investor and thus the government will responsible to the investor in international courts for violations, while the investor will also be responsible to the government of Ukraine – this is a mirror agreement,” he said on the air of the Freedom of Speech (Svoboda Slova) program on ICTV.
The minister is confident that in this way the state shows foreign and Ukrainian investors that it is ready to ensure the rule of law. Mylovanov added that in parallel with this, the judicial and law enforcement systems should be reformed to build trust in them.
“It’s about the right to sign an agreement. Today the law does not allow the Cabinet of Ministers to sign a separate agreement. Are we signing international agreements? It’s the same thing, because we sign them with international financial organizations, and this is a big investor. Is the one with the IMF an international agreement? It is an individual international deal with a large international investor. Do we sign agreements with the EBRD [the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development] and the World Bank? Yes, and now we say that any large investor, not only international financial organizations, will get the right to sign a contract with the government,” the minister said.
