President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska have been granted an audience with His Holiness Pope Francis in Vatican City State on Saturday, during which Zelensky invited Pope Francis to visit Ukraine in order to see the situation in Donbas, according to the press service of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
During the meeting, the head of state said that the Holy See could play an important role in bringing peace to Ukraine.
“The main thing we talked about is peace. He [Pope Francis] even called me “president of peace” – this is my image in Europe now,” Zelensky said after the audience.
He also noted that His Holiness Pope Francis is very much welcome in Ukraine, where he enjoys extremely high support and trust.
“I invited him to Ukraine. I am sure he will visit Ukraine – not only its capital. I said that one should visit eastern Ukraine in order to fully understand what is going on there,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky and Pope Francis also discussed humanitarian initiatives to help children and protect the environment.
“I am extremely grateful to His Holiness for the “Pope for Ukraine” initiative, which helped 900,000 war-stricken Ukrainians in Donbas,” Zelensky said.
Goldman Sachs predicts the increase in inflation in Ukraine by 4.1% in 2019 and to 5% in 2020, according to the materials of the bank.
The inflation slowing in Ukraine in 2019 has turned out to be more significant than it was projected in the forecasts of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) published in inflation reports within 2019 (6.3% as of late 2019) and assessments of other expert organizations, the regulator has said in comments on inflation on its website.
The macroeconomic situation allows the Ukrainian economy to grow rapidly in the coming several years, Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has said.
Ukrainian businesses forecast inflation in 12 months at 7%, which is 0.1 percentage point (p.p.) worse than expected a quarter earlier.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has retained its forecast for real GDP growth in Ukraine for 2020-2021 at 3.5% and 4% respectively, expecting that GDP would grow by 4% in 2020.
According to the data of the electronic census, population of Ukraine totals 37.289 million, minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Dmytro Dubilet reported.
Real wages in Ukraine in December 2019 increased by 11.3% compared with December 2018, while compared with November 2019 they increased by 15.1%, the State Statistics Service has said.
According to the data of the electronic census, population of Ukraine totals 37.289 million, minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Dmytro Dubilet reported. “Ukraine amounts 37.289 million people,” Dubilet said at a press conference in Kyiv.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-November 2019 increased by 5.7% compared to the same period in 2018 (also $8.869 billion in deficit), to $9.374 billion, the State Statistics Service reported.
Exports of goods from Ukraine during the reporting period increased 6.3%, to $45.963 billion, while imports grew by 6.2%, to $55.337 billion, it 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.
Industrial production in Ukraine in 2019 decreased by 1.8% compared to 2018, while in December 2019 from December 2018 the decline was 7.7%, the State Statistics Service has reported.
The volume of industrial products (goods, services) sold in Ukraine in January-November 2019 amounted to UAH 2.273 trillion, which is 0.5% more than in January-November 2018 (UAH 2.261 trillion), in particular outside the country to UAH 602.8 billion, the State Statistics Service has 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.
DTEK Kyiv Grids provides for the volume of investments in the development of power grids in Kyiv at the level of UAH 8.8 billion in the plan for the development of the Kyiv energy infrastructure in 2020-2024, which is almost five times more than investments made in this direction over the previous five years. “According to the company’s forecasts, electricity consumption in Kyiv will grow by approximately 9% by 2024. In order to meet the growing needs of domestic customers and businesses and increase the reliability of the capital’s energy supply, we plan to invest UAH 8.8 billion in the development of energy infrastructure in Kyiv over five years,” Director General of DTEK Kyiv Grids Maris Kunickis said when presenting the development plan for the energy infrastructure of Kyiv for 2020-2024.
According to the data announced at the presentation, UAH 1.8 billion was invested in the development of the capital’s infrastructure in 2015-2019.
The plan of the development of energy infrastructure in Kyiv, in particular, provides for the construction by the end of 2024 of four new large substations of 110-10 kV: Odeska, Lukyanivska, Brest-Litovska, Kabelna Nova, as well as the construction of 51 kilometers of 110-35 kV power grids and the reconstruction of 1,753 kilometers of networks and 231 energy facilities.
“Now we are actively working on the launch of the new SCADA software dispatch system. By analyzing the information, it will not only be able to help manage the network, but will also predict possible emergencies and suggest solutions. This will significantly improve the quality of energy supply,” the expert said.
Nika-Tera sea terminal (Mykolaiv), part of Dmytro Firtash’s Group DF, handled 26 vessels in January 2020, transshipping more than 630,000 tonnes of cargo, which is almost 20% more than in January 2019.
According to the company’s website, the main cargo in the structure of cargo turnover remains grain, legumes and oilseeds with 458,200 tonnes, or 72.6% of the total transshipment, meal with 109,800 tonnes, or 17.4%, and bulk cargo with 63,000 tonnes (10%).
“Improving the efficiency of cargo operations and increasing cargo turnover are among the key performance indicators. We started the year with very good dynamics. The growth rate is plus 19.4% compared to the same period last year. The introduction of new technologies and the optimization of loading and loading processes give their results,” port director Alim Agakishiev said.
Nika-Tera is a modern highly mechanized marine terminal included in the port business of Group DF. The terminal includes four specialized complexes: a grain complex, a fertilizer transshipment complex, an open storage bulk cargo transshipment complex, and a liquid cargo transshipment complex.
Italy’s ORI Industria SpA (Mantova), which invested in acquisition of equipment for hosiery production (the Viv’en petty trademark) of Ukraine’s RUSH retailer (the Eva chain), plans to increase its sales share to 30% (from 20% in 2019) in 2020.
“The Ukrainian market is actively growing and becoming more attractive for us. At the same time, Eva is our only major partner in Ukraine: the network accounts for 95% of all exports to this country. We hope to increase the share of Eva of our production volumes up to 30%,” the owner of the Italian factory, Marco Gerevini, told reporters at a briefing at the company’s factory.
According to Eva, sales of Viv’en petty products in 2019 amounted to more than 3.5 million units, or 6% of its total turnover of private label. The plans for the development of the Viv’en petty trademark for 2020 include sales growth of 45% (in units), an increase in its share of total sales of private labels to 7.5%, the launch of a line of fashion socks and new tights, and other.
The company does not name the share of the Viv’en products on the Ukrainian market, but claim: it is the largest among the tights of private brands.
According to Hanna Horokhovik, brand manager of the Eva network, in 2010-2011, such brands as Golden Lady, Levante, Omsa, and others began to leave the Ukrainian market, which also significantly affected the redistribution of this market.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has temporarily appointed board member Željko Marček acting board chairman of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia (Kyiv).
Government decree No. 65-r dated February 5, 2020 has been posted on its website.
Earlier the government approved the dismissal of Ukrzaliznytsia Board Chairman Yevhen Kravtsov without transferring him to a new position.
