Ministry of Economy and Trade has developed a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers “On Amendments to the Annex to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 957 of October 30, 2008”, which provides for an increase in the minimum wholesale and retail prices for certain types of alcoholic beverages.
According to information on the website of the Ministry of Economy, the current size of the minimum wholesale and retail prices for alcoholic beverages was established by the relevant Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution No. 748 in September 2018, except for retail prices for sparkling wines and carbonated wine drinks.
“The changes that have occurred in the socio-economic and tax spheres, in particular, the growth of the expenditure component of prices (raw materials, components, energy, labor costs, etc.), as well as the change of excise tax rates for alcoholic beverages on March 1, 2022, have led to the fact that the size of minimum prices does not correspond to the real costs of economic entities for the production and sale of alcoholic beverages and requires adjustment,” – noted in the explanatory note to the document.
The new resolution proposes to increase the size of minimum wholesale and retail prices for certain types of alcoholic beverages depending on the code of products from the UKTVED, including retail prices for vodka and liquor products to increase by 13%, whiskey, rum and gin – by 25%, cognac (brandy) – by 11-12%.
The rates for wine products, in particular, ordinary (non-sparkling) wines will be increased by 62%; for cider, perry, wines, vermouth and other fermented beverages (including mixtures of fermented beverages and mixtures based on fermented beverages), the actual strength of which is higher than 1.2% of volumetric units of ethyl alcohol, but not higher than 22% of volumetric units of ethyl alcohol – by 61-71%; for sparkling wines and carbonated wine drinks – by 28%.
Notes to the Decree will be supplemented with a new paragraph, according to which the minimum retail price for wine products (except for cider and perry (without added alcohol), fermented drinks obtained exclusively as a result of natural fermentation of fruit, berry and fruit-berry juices, with alcohol content not exceeding 8.5% of volume units (without added alcohol) in Tetra-Pak and Bag in box packaging will be determined as a derivative of the approved minimum price for the corresponding products in glass containers with a capacity of 0.7 liters, in other containers with a capacity of 0.7 liters.
All changes in the descriptions of goods and their grouping by codes according to UKTVED will be harmonized with the Tax Code of Ukraine.
The U.S. state budget deficit in June amounted to $227.768 billion, which is 2.6 times higher than the figure for the same month last year ($88.842 billion), the country’s Treasury Department reported.
Budget revenues fell 9.2% to $418.317 billion.
Expenditures increased 17.6% to $646.085 billion.
For the first nine months of fiscal year 2023, which began Oct. 1, the U.S. budget deficit was $1 trillion 392.64 billion, down from $515.067 billion a year earlier.
The volume of revenues in the U.S. budget since the beginning of the current fiscal year decreased by 11% to $3.413 trillion, while expenditures increased by 10% to $4.805 trillion.
As previously reported, the negative balance of the U.S. state budget at the end of 2022 fiscal year halved and amounted to $1.375 trillion.
A record deficit of $3.1 trillion was recorded in the country at the end of fiscal year 2020. The last time the U.S. budget was in surplus was in 2001.
Read more about the situation in the economy of Ukraine and the world in the video on the YoTube channel Club of Experts:
Tajikistan’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached 54.2 billion somoni in the first six months of this year, and its real growth amounted to 8.3%.
Such data were given at the meeting on summarizing the results of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) for the first half of this year, the NBT press department reported on Friday.
“During this period, the inflation rate amounted to 2.3%, which is 1.8% points lower than in the same period last year (…) The refinancing rate was revised based on the forecast of the impact of potential internal and external risks on the economy, taking into account that the inflation rate is at the lower level of the established target, and that inflation expectations of the population were reduced to 10.0% per annum,” the report said.
The current exchange rate is $1/10.89 somoni.
Read more about the situation in the economy of Ukraine and the world in the video on the YoTube channel Club of Experts:
The Verkhovna Rada has adopted in the first reading draft law No. 7457 on regulating the circulation of cannabis plants for medical, scientific and industrial purposes.
The adoption of the document as a basis was supported by 268 people’s deputies at the plenary session on Thursday, said co-chair of the faction “European Solidarity” Irina Gerashchenko.
“The long-suffering bill on medical cannabis was adopted in the first reading. It was supported by 268 deputies, including part of the faction “EU” (“European Solidarity”). “I also voted in favor, although there are many questions to the bill, it needs to be finalized for the second reading,” she wrote in her Telegram channel.
The parliamentarian emphasized that such a law should help in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), pain reduction in cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions.
“Unfortunately, this bill is not so much about medicine as it is about industrial cannabis cultivation and the government’s corrupt schemes regarding permits and the development of huge funding streams. Our faction will submit amendments, will finalize the bill for the second reading, so that the emphasis was exactly on medicine and pain relief, but not on industrial cultivation,” – specified the parliamentarian.
As noted in the explanatory note, the bill proposes to create regulatory conditions for the legal limited circulation of cannabis, cannabis resin, extracts and tinctures of cannabis for the purposes defined by this document, in particular, for their use for medical, industrial purposes, scientific and scientific-technical activities, as well as its varieties in certain areas of activity.
The Government considers it necessary to regulate the issues related to the organization of activities at each stage of such circulation of cannabis, including operations on import, export, transportation on the territory of Ukraine, storage and sale of cannabis, to contribute to the improvement of the level and quality of medical care of the population by ensuring the realization of the right to health care with the use of more effective medicines and methods of treatment, in particular in the field of palliative care, which, among other things, are based on symptomatic treatment.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers submitted the draft law No. 7457 to the Verkhovna Rada in June 2022. The profile committee of the Parliament on the health of the nation recommended to accept it as a basis. Later, in September, the head of the committee, Mykhailo Radutskyy (Servant of the People faction), said that there would probably not be enough votes in the Rada to support the bill on medical cannabis.
Ukraine will have to attract an additional 4.5 million employees to the labor market over the next ten years to make a post-war recovery, the Economy Ministry predicted on Thursday following a seminar with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labor Organization (ILO).
“Labor market recovery is not a consequence of victory, it is a path to victory,” the ministry quoted Deputy Economy Minister Tatyana Berezhnaya as saying.
It is pointed out that even before the full-scale invasion Ukraine was facing a labor shortage, but now that more than 6 million Ukrainians have been forced to go abroad, the labor situation in the country has become even more critical.
It is noted that the IOM and ILO plan to continue to support the Ministry of Economy in paving the way for labor market recovery to achieve key priorities.
“We look forward to working closely together to help the state on its road to recovery and shape a more promising future for Ukraine and its people. Economic recovery is paramount to this process,” said IOM Representative Office Chairman Anh Nguyen at the seminar.
The event was attended by 40 participants from the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, State Employment Service and State Migration Service, Office of the President, Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Culture and State Border Service, as well as IOM, ILO and NGOs.
Southern European countries are suffering from the “Cerberus” heat wave, in the coming days in some regions temperatures may rise to 45 degrees Celsius and higher, Western media reported.
The Associated Press agency reports that according to the Spanish meteorological service, in the coming days in the southeastern regions of the Iberian Peninsula, temperatures may rise to 45 degrees Celsius. At the same time, high temperatures are already being recorded there: already at 6:00 Wednesday more than 100 weather stations recorded temperatures of at least 35 degrees Celsius.
In other areas of the peninsula, a slight drop in temperature is expected.
At the same time, temperatures have already exceeded or will exceed the 40 degrees Celsius mark in France, Greece, Croatia and Turkey in the coming days. The BBC reports that the situation is toughest in Italy, where the heatwave could reach 48.8 degrees Celsius, a weather record for Europe set in the country in 2021. At the moment, the highest level of meteorological danger has been introduced in 10 Italian cities, including Florence and Rome. On Tuesday, a 44-year-old man died in the north of the country due to high temperatures. Several tourists suffered heat strokes.
Sky News reports that temperatures could rise to 40-45 degrees in some parts of Greece, while the average for this time of year usually stays at 32, and the Czech city of Prague is expected to reach 34 degrees on Saturday – 10 above the July average of 24. In northern Africa, the heat may reach 50 degrees: in Tunisia, 49 degrees Celsius has already been recorded.
The cause of the high temperatures is the “Cerberus” heat wave, which was given that name by the Italian Meteorological Society. CNN notes that “Cerberus” may replace the new atmospheric front “Charon” on Friday, which could cause temperatures in Italy to rise even higher next week.
In many countries, authorities are urging citizens to take precautions while outdoors, traveling unnecessarily is not recommended.
