Retail trade turnover in Ukraine, excluding the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol and Donbas, in January-November 2018 in comparable prices increased by 6.2% compared with January-November 2017, the State Statistics Service has reported.
Retail trade turnover in November 2018 rose by 1.2% compared with October, while by 5.6% from November 2017.
The largest growth in retail trade turnover in the first 11 months of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017 was observed in Luhansk (by 27.8%), Donetsk (by 14.7%), Poltava (by 12.4%), and Zakarpattia (by 12%) regions.
The leaders in absolute terms of the volume of retail turnover for the 11 months were Kyiv city (UAH 157.37 billion), Dnipropetrovsk (UAH 75.8 billion), Kharkiv (UAH 64.61 billion), Odesa (UAH 61.877 billion), Kyiv (UAH 58.828 billion), and Lviv regions (UAH 51.362 billion).
According to the service, retail trade turnover in Donetsk region in January-November 2018 compared to January-November 2017 increased by 14.7% (to UAH 25.65 billion), Luhansk region by 27.8% (to UAH 7.27 billion).
The State Statistics Service said that trade turnover at retail enterprises (legal entities) in November 2018 compared with November 2017 grew by 5.2%, and compared to October 2018 by 1.1%, amounting to UAH 59.496 billion, for the 11 months grew by 5.8%, to UAH 595.675 billion.
In the first 11 months of 2018, wholesale turnover at enterprises rose by 4.3% compared to the corresponding period last year and amounted to UAH 2.003 trillion.
PJSC Donbasenergo has signed a contract with Dongfang Electric International Corporation (China) for reconstruction of unit No. 6 of the Sloviansk thermal power plant (TPP) with its division into units 6A and 6B of 330 MW each.
According to the company’s press release, the cost of the contract for the reconstruction using CFB technology (the technology of coal combustion in a circulating fluidized bed) is $684.296 million.
According to the plan, unit No. 6A will be put into operation in July 2022, unit No. 6B in July 2023. The units will burn steam coal.
The project implementation will extend the life of thermal power plants by 40 years, increase their operation efficiency, reduce specific fuel consumption and maintenance costs. The new units will comply with all ENTSO-E technical requirements and the European environmental directives.
Reconstruction of unit No. 6 of the Sloviansk TPP will significantly reduce the cost of electricity produced, burn low grade coal without using natural gas in the load range of 40-100%.
Donbasenergo Director General Eduard Bondarenko said that efficiency of the units will be at least 42%. The company seeks to receive the funds for investment in the tariff for electricity transmission in the amount of 30%. The reconstruction will be financed using the loan from a Chinese bank by 70%.
Donbasenergo operates Starobesheve (located in the occupied territory) and Sloviansk thermal power plants.
CHINA DONGFANG ELECTRIC, CONTRACT, DONBASENERGO, RECONSTRUCT, UNIT
Ukraine from January 1, 2019 will stop issuing visas on arrival for foreign citizens at international airports, said State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Zayats.
“From January 1, the issuance of visas at international airports will cease and the functionality of the electronic visa will expand,” Zayats told the Kyiv-based ezine LB.ua.
According to him, the Foreign Ministry acknowledged that the issuance of visas at the airport is neither modern nor effective, since some foreigners do not speak English, and some foreigners do not have a banking card, with which they can pay the consular fee.
In 11 months of 2018, about 35,000 visas have been issued at the airports of Ukraine.
Zayats said that the functionality of the electronic visa will now be expanded by increasing the number of states whose citizens will be able to issue it, adding that the list of purposes to be issued an e-visa is expanding.
“Now the purpose is only a tourist or business trip. From January 1, treatment and private trips to visit relatives are added to this. Visas for journalists are added. So, we block almost all non-immigration types of travel with electronic visas,” the diplomat said.
He said that the e-visa fee will be set at $85 from January 1, while the consular fee for entry into Ukraine will be set at $65.
Sugar production in Ukraine as of December 19 amounted to 1.64 million tonnes.
According to the Ukrtsukor National Association of Sugar Producers, at present sugar refineries in the country have processed 12.1 million tonnes of sugar beets.
As reported, Ukraine started a new sugar making season on August 31.
In 2018, the area under sugar beets was 280,000 hectares, which is 13% less than in 2017.
Ukraine exported 560,400 tonnes of sugar in the 2017/2018 agricultural year (September-August), which is 27.2% less than in the previous agri-year.
Sugar production in the 2017/2018 agri-year increased by 6.5% and amounted to 2.14 million tonnes. Some 46 sugar factories were operating during the season.
Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleksandr Saenko expects that the next tranche from the European Union (EU) in the amount of EUR 10-20 million for governance reform could arrive in April or May 2019. “We had a very good political dialog with our European partners. They already have an official position regarding readiness to continue supporting this reform. We expect the next tranche in April-May,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Saenko, the amount of the tranche will depend on the criteria, but according to forecasts, next year Ukraine will receive about EUR 10-20 million for this reform.
“Next year, much will change in the remuneration of civil servants. The remuneration of new reform specialists is a prototype of the remuneration model of civil servants, where the fixed part is at least 70%. This model is laid down in the law on public service. For specialists on reform issues, these parameters have already been established. We have limited the bonuses to 30%. This makes it impossible to establish sky-high bonuses,” the minister added.
Saenko said that now there is still a big imbalance in the system itself, when the position salary is minimal, and total wages and salaries increase significantly due to allowances and bonuses. This, according to the minister, creates dependence on the political biased will of the chief with all the attendant consequences.
“The new system will be more transparent and balanced, and we will gradually transfer the financing of the reform at the expense of the main programs of the ministries’ central offices,” Saenko said.
