The German chemical company BASF SE, one of the largest in the world, intends to curtail all activities in Russia and Belarus by July, except for the production of additives for the food industry.
“The Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE has also decided by early July 2022 to curtail the remaining business activities of the company in Russia and Belarus. Businesses that support food production are exempted from this decision, as the war risks provoking a global food crisis,” the company said in a statement.
In early March, against the backdrop of the war started by Russia in Ukraine, the company announced the abandonment of new projects in Russia and Belarus. The company is now developing detailed plans for an orderly winding down.
It is noted that in 2021, the revenue of the group’s companies in Russia and Belarus amounted to about 1% of the total sales of BASF Group (78.6 billion euros). Now 684 BASF employees work in these countries. The company intends to support them until the end of 2022.
BASF operates through six core business segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technology, Nutrition & Care, and Agricultural Solutions.
International Nuclear Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi has described the radiation levels at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as normal after it was occupied by Russian troops, AFP reported.
“The level of radiation, I would say, is normal … There were certain moments when the level increased due to the movement of heavy equipment that Russian troops brought here, and when they left the station,” Grossi was quoted by AFP during his visit to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26.
The agency, which previously indicated that the IAEA Director General called the level of radiation abnormal, subsequently corrected his words on his Twitter.
As reported, Grossi visits the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on the anniversary of the accident on April 26. He led the agency’s mission to the station to deliver various types of radiation monitoring equipment, including radionuclide identification devices and gamma dose rate meters, to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as well as conduct radiological and other assessments. In addition, IAEA experts plan to repair the systems for remote monitoring of safeguards that stopped transmitting data to the agency’s headquarters in Vienna immediately after the station was seized by Russian invaders.
As noted by the IAEA, since the withdrawal of the Russian military from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine has taken significant steps to operate it safely, but the overall situation in the exclusion zone remains difficult, in part due to damaged bridges and demining activities.
The IAEA also noted that, in close coordination with Ukraine, it developed detailed plans for providing assistance in the security of the country’s nuclear facilities.
Russian troops left the Chernobyl zone on March 31 after a five-week stay in it since the capture at the beginning of the war on February 24. During their stay in the zone, the Russian military, in particular, built fortifications over a large area, including in the Red Forest, the dirtiest point in the zone. According to the head of GAZO Yevgeny Kramarenko, the risk of serious infection of the military and equipment from such actions is high. At the same time, according to him, during the retreat from Kyiv, Russian troops withdrew about 10,000 pieces of heavy equipment through Chernobyl, which, like the military, could also be contaminated with radiation when moving through dangerous territory. The movement of a large amount of military equipment provoked the rise of radiation dust and an increase in radiation in the zone.
According to the head of NAEK Energoatom Petr Kotin, in some places the radiation level was exceeded 50 times.
The fall of the Ukrainian economy in 2022 will be about 33% according to the baseline scenario, in which the war will last for another month and a half at the most, Alexander Pecheritsyn, a leading analyst at Raiffeisen Bank (Kyiv), said.
“If the war lasts until the end of the year, then (GDP) could fall as much as 45%,” he said at a zoom conference on Tuesday.
Pecheritsyn specified that this is the bank’s third forecast since the beginning of the war. According to him, the initial decline in the economy was estimated at about 15% based on previous fast-moving conflicts in the world, for example, in Georgia. Then, in March, the bank estimated a decline as low as 24%, taking into account the gross regional product and the map of hostilities. In particular, as part of this analysis, a 34% decrease in this year’s crop is expected.
Serhiy Kolodiy, Chief Manager for Macroeconomic Analysis at Raiffeisen Bank, recalled that in 2014-2015, the fall in GDP was approximately 25% compared with pre-war Ukraine (in official statistics, data are compared only for controlled territories).
Pecheritsyn added that in terms of GDP, the bank estimates a 39% drop in private consumption due to the emigration of 15% of the population, lower incomes and negative consumer expectations.
According to him, domestic investment, which is the most vulnerable component, will fall by half this year under the baseline scenario.
“On the positive side, production relocation programs have little effect, but on the scale of the total output, of course, it is small,” the analyst said.
Speaking about inflation, Pecheritsyn noted that the bank still maintains its forecast for this year at 17% after 10% in the past. He explained that the volume of purchases by the National Bank of military bonds in the amount of UAH 60 billion is still within the limits of controllable, in addition, state control over prices and the freezing of utility tariffs affect.
In general, speaking about the work of analysts during the war, Pecheritsyn said that the bank began issuing weekly military reviews.
“War is a new challenge, we are no strangers to them, since there was a coronavirus two years ago. But the current (challenge) is much more difficult,” he stressed.
Pecheritsyn until February of this year served as chief economist at Credit Agricole Bank (Kyiv).
As reported, according to the World Bank, which before the war expected the Ukrainian economy to grow by 3.2% this year, it will fall by 45.1%. According to his report from early April, in 2023 the Ukrainian economy is expected to recover by only 2.1%, which is also worse than previous expectations of 3.5%.
The National Bank of Ukraine predicts a decline in the country’s GDP this year by at least a third, refusing to make more detailed estimates. The IMF expects a 35% decline.
All tariffs on goods coming to Britain from Ukraine under an existing free trade deal will be axed to help the Ukrainian economy, the British government announced on Monday.
London said tariffs would be reduced to zero and all quotas removed following a direct request from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, saying the move would provide a boost for Ukrainian businesses involved in key exports such as barley, honey, tinned tomatoes and poultry.
“We stand unwaveringly with Ukraine in this ongoing fight and will work to ensure Ukraine survives and thrives as a free and sovereign nation,” said British International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan.
Britain said currently the average tariff on Ukrainian imports was about 22%. It said the planned change had been offered on a non-reciprocal basis, but Kyiv was likely to match the British action
Mobile operator lifecell records an increase in demand for eSIM during the war in Ukraine: since February 24, it has increased five times on average, and on some days subscribers ordered 20 times more digital SIM cards than before the outbreak of hostilities , the press service of the company said on Monday.
“From March 4 to March 7, the operator observed a peak in demand for eSIM – 25 times more subscribers joined the lifecell network using digital SIM cards than in the same period before the war. And the traffic from the Kherson region in the lifecell online store during this period exceeded the usual level of 44 times,” the report says.
This, the company notes, is due to the fact that lifecell remained the only operator that provided communication services in Kherson and the region during this period. Consistently high rates of digital SIM usage in March remained in the Kherson region and Kyiv.
In addition, the number of eSIM users during the war increased in Lviv and the Lviv region by almost six times compared to pre-war times.
Outside of Ukraine, the demand for eSIM has increased sevenfold. Most people bought a digital SIM card in Poland and Germany.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that in a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he discussed in detail the threat to the global food market due to the actions of the Russian Federation, which blocked the Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
“Had an important conversation with Turkish President Erdogan. About the situation in Mariupol and the need to evacuate civilians and the wounded, about the need for an immediate exchange of blocked Ukrainian military. We discussed the negotiation process with Russia, defense issues. We touched in detail on the threat to the world food market, provoked by Russia, which blocked our Black Sea ports,” Zelensky said in a video message on Monday morning.
He stressed that the rise in food prices has already reached a critical level in many countries, and this is just the beginning.
“If Russia does not seek peace, the issue of food security in many countries will turn into a matter of the physical survival of millions of people, and hence the stability of state systems. An increasing number of political leaders in the world are aware of this threat. Therefore, we expect more pressure on Russia,” he said. head of state.
