Philip Morris Ukraine, British American Tobacco, JTI and Imperial Tobacco in Ukraine are mulling the possibility of decreasing production and later closing the tobacco factories on the territory of Ukraine over the adoption of the legislative requirement on the government regulation of markup on their goods by the Verkhovna Rada.
“The fact of adoption of this bill will have serious consequences for the industry. This is the absence of a transition period and implementation mechanisms. In the near future, this will expose our business to risks. We will be forced to consider the issue of producing our goods at other factories, since we do not even fully understand how to execute this bill,” Director of British American Tobacco Ukraine Simon Welford said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.
He said that bill 1049, passed at second reading, introducing a single account for paying taxes and duties, the single social security contribution, sets a fixed markup for wholesale and retail traders of tobacco products at 7% and 13% of the maximum retail price per package.
General Manager of Imperial Tobacco in Ukraine Rastislav Cernak said that these legislative initiatives could entail an increase in the volume of illegal trade in tobacco products from 8.4% to 20%. At the same time, he said that over the past three years, the volume of the “shadow” tobacco market has grown by about seven times and this annually cost UAH 5 billion the national budget.
At the same time, Cernak predicted a 25% reduction in cigarette production. “Such a 25% drop, according to our estimates, will cost the national budget about UAH 7 billion. Therefore, we urge the Verkhovna Rada to revise bill No. 1049 and remove the amendment that establishes the regulation of the markup. We request that transparent lawmaking in Ukraine along with an open dialogue with major investors start working, as such significant changes in taxation force us to rethink our business in Ukraine,” he said.
State debt of Ukraine from 2009 till 2019 (mln UAH)
National bank of ukraine’s official rates as of 09/10/19
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of October 09
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Ukraine in January-September 2019 increased revenue from electricity exports by 14.4% (by $34.105 million) compared to the same period in 2018, to $271.49 million, in particular, in September this figure was $31.263 million.
According to the State Fiscal Service, electricity for $167.111 million was supplied to Hungary in the nine months, power worth $61.237 million to Poland, while Moldova received electricity for $32.814 million, other countries for $10.328 million.
In addition, Ukraine imported electricity for $31.174 million in January-September 2019, including for $14.791 million from Slovakia, $13.063 million from Belarus, $2.434 million from Hungary, and $885,000 from other countries.
As reported, in 2018 Ukraine exported electricity worth $331.942 million, in particular to Hungary for $189.958 million, Poland for $78.763 million, Moldova for $53.144 million, other countries for $10.078 million. In monetary terms, Ukrainian electricity exports in 2018 increased by 40.9% compared to 2017.
In natural terms, Ukraine in 2018 increased exports of electricity by 19.3% (by 999.4 million kWh) compared to 2017, to 6.166 billion kWh.
According to the updated forecast balance, in 2019 Ukraine plans to export 5.832 billion kWh of electricity, which is 5.4% less than in 2018 (6.166 billion kWh). Imports are expected to amount to 1.488 billion kWh.
On the basis of Small and Medium Entrepreneurship School (SME School, the project of Vasyl Khmelnytsky’s K.Fund), UFuture opens UNIT School of Business in UNIT.City. The first open day at the new educational institution will take place on October 10 in UNIT Factory, Kyiv.
UNIT School of Business works in a new format for Ukraine: the program includes 119 hours of practical work on each participant’s real business instead of theoretical lectures. Entrepreneurs bring their daily tasks and look for profitable ways to solve them together with teachers. For this, the school’s experts have developed short practical programs for business modeling, marketing, sales, brand building, effective innovative tools that are easy to apply in the work of a small and medium Ukrainian business.
“We’ve created UNIT School of Business because in Ukraine, we haven’t found any entrepreneurship school organized at a really great level. We understand how difficult it is for an entrepreneur to take a break even for two months, not to mention two years. Therefore, our programs are short and effective,” Artem Makeev, CEO of the project, said.
Creators of UNIT School of Business have taken into account the experience of the educational business project “Superludi” (“Superpeople”) and SME School (1.5 thousand graduates in the past three years). The mentors of the institution are market experts and business practitioners of UFuture, UNIT.City innovation park, UDP development company, Biopharma innovative pharmaceutical company, ITernal group of IT companies and an ecosystem of tech solutions, Lean Institute Ukraine, and “Superludi”.
“Nine out of ten businesses in Ukraine are closed during the first year of existence. Not because of external reasons, but because of the lack of knowledge. We’ve collected the necessary knowledge and will help to apply it in business,” Vlad Nozdrachev, partner of UNIT School of Business, Founder and Project Manager of “Superludi”, said.
UNIT School of Business is a part of UNIT ecosystem which includes, in particular, Ugrow (a closed community of entrepreneurs with regular events, group coaching and mentoring support, access to which is available to students of UNIT School of Business), INDAX accelerator (helps to build production, including investments), Sector X accelerator (finds clients and partners in IT field and helps businesses enter the western market).
The open day at UNIT School of Business will start on October 10 at 16:00. The program of the event includes speeches by representatives of the business school and Ugrow, informal communication with graduates of SME School. The first 100 people who register at https://forms.gle/nGUDtomazJ3B7KXL7 will be able to take part in the open day.
The launch of the new curriculum of UNIT School of Business will take place on October 21.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
UFuture is a holding company of Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky that integrates his business and impact-investment projects. The company has a diversified portfolio of assets in the fields of real estate, infrastructure, industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and IT. Currently, UFuture’s assets are estimated at $550 million, and the total capitalization of the businesses it invested in is more than $1 billion. UFuture is a majority shareholder in UDP development company (specializing in large infrastructure projects), Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport (the second international airport in Ukraine by passenger traffic), national operator of outdoor advertising RTM-Ukraine, and a group of IT companies and an ecosystem of tech solutions ITernal. UFuture is a strategic investor in the pharmaceutical company Biopharma and UDP Renewables, renewable energy investment and development company. UFuture is also developing new business projects including UNIT.City innovation parks in Kyiv and Kharkiv, LvivTech.City in Lviv; Bila Tserkva industrial park and a manufacturer of modern electrotechnical systems, Plank Electrotechnic. UFuture supports social projects in the fields of education and economics, including the Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF), Lean Institute Ukraine, UNIT School of Business, UNIT Factory innovative IT-schools in Kyiv and Kharkiv, Secondary education institution Novopecherska School, the all-Ukrainian online platform iLearn, and others.
