In 2022, the Kyivstar mobile operator built 108 new base stations to improve the quality of communication.
As the company’s press service reported on Friday, in the first quarter of 2022, Kyivstar invested UAH 659 million in construction and development of a mobile communication network in Ukraine, thanks to which the company’s telecom network works stably.
In January-May 2022, the operator built 108 new mobile base stations. In particular, 53 base stations were built in cities in the west of Ukraine, 27 base stations – in Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Kyiv and Cherkasy regions. In the east of Ukraine, 20 base stations were built, most of them in Kharkiv region. Eight new base stations were installed in the south of Ukraine.
“Thanks to the network expansion, the company can better provide communications in those regions where there is an increase in traffic. For example, almost 5 million subscribers who were in large cities before the war moved to rural areas within their regions. And about 4 million subscribers moved to other regions, mainly to the west of Ukraine,” the report says.
In addition, as noted, during the hostilities, Kyivstar specialists eliminated tens of thousands of emergency situations that arose as a result of damage to the telecommunications infrastructure.
Currently, 95% of the company’s telecom infrastructure is operating normally, providing mobile communications and high-speed Internet for 26 million subscribers.
Ukraine in 2022 can harvest a crop of 66 million tons of grain, leguminous and oilseeds, which is 1.6 times less compared to the record harvest over the years of independence in 2021, when 106 million tons were harvested.
As reported on the website of the association Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business (UCAB) on Thursday evening, this year it is expected to produce 50.4 million tons of grains and legumes (1.7 times less than in 2021), and 16 million tons of oilseeds ( 41.2% less),
According to her, this year the wheat harvest is expected to be 18 million tons (-44% by 2021), corn – 25.7 million tons (-39%), barley – 5.2 million tons (-55%).
As for oilseeds, in 2022 it is expected to produce 10.6 million tons of sunflower (-35% by 2021), soybeans – 3.0 million tons (-14%), rapeseed – 2.7 million tons (-22% ).
According to the UCAB, soybean and rapeseed show the lowest rates of decline in the expected gross harvest. This is due to the relatively small mass of their crop, combined with a high price for it, which facilitates logistical issues when exporting these oilseeds.
The Association emphasized that the decrease in sown area in 2022 was due to the partial occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine by Russian troops, the inability to sow in fields mined by Russians, and also due to damage to the material and technical base of Ukrainian farmers.
In addition, this year, yields are expected to decrease by about 10% due to the inability of some farms to comply with all technological procedures.
“In any case, the grown grains and oilseeds will be enough to meet the domestic needs of Ukrainians, as well as partial export sales. The main thing is that exports recover to their previous volumes, and farmers have sufficient financial resources to carry out the next sowing season,” summed up the UCAB in forecast
As reported, in 2021 Ukraine harvested a record harvest of grains, legumes and oilseeds in the amount of 106 million tons: grains and legumes – UAH 84 million and oilseeds – 22.6 million tons.
In 2020, the harvest of grains, legumes and oilseeds amounted to 84 million tons, including grains and legumes – 65.5 million tons, oilseeds – 18.5 million tons.
Ukraine expects zero rates for the export of goods to the UK to be set from June, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said after a meeting with British Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan.
“We expect that already in early June, zero customs rates for the export of Ukrainian goods to the UK will begin to operate. This will allow Ukrainian exporters to increase the export of products,” the ministry’s press service quoted Svyrydenko as saying in a Telegram message on Friday.
“First of all, we are talking about such goods as flour, grain, dairy products, poultry meat and semi-finished products, honey, corn, sugar. As a result, we will attract additional volumes of foreign exchange earnings to the country, which will have a positive impact on macro-financial stability in the state,” the first deputy prime minister said.
During the meeting, the parties also discussed the situation with trade between the countries. In 2021, it has grown by 40%.
“In 2022, we can expect significant progress even despite the war,” the Ministry of Economy noted.
The Minister of Economy of Ukraine and the British Secretary of State for International Trade also discussed the possibility of British investments in Ukraine. Last year they reached $3 billion.
EXPORTS, GOODS, UK, ZERO RATES
UNIQA Life insurance company in January-March 2022 made insurance payments in the amount of UAH 6.63 million, which is 20.5% more than in the same period a year earlier.
According to the company’s website, during the reporting period, the company collected UAH 122.4 million, while for the same period a year earlier – UAH 213.9 million.
Equity capital as of March 31, 2022 amounted to UAH 259.02 million, assets – UAH 1.341 billion, actual solvency margin – UAH 256.2 million.
Pretax profit amounted to UAH 21.03 million.
UNIQA and UNIQA Life since 2006 have been part of UNIQA Group (Austria).
Foreign companies are again using underground gas storage (UGS) facilities in Ukraine, despite the war, although the volumes of such storage are still small due to gas shortages in Europe, Yuriy Vitrenko, Board Chairman of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, has said.
“There are already foreign companies that, starting from April, under the conditions of war, still take risks and store gas in our storage facilities,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
The Naftogaz head recalled that in the first month of the war, Ukraine suspended such an opportunity, but then reopened storage facilities for nonresidents.
“So far, there are relatively small [volumes of storage by nonresidents]. The question is simply that there is a certain shortage of gas in Europe,” Vitrenko explained.
According to him, this trust is due to the fact that Ukraine is a reliable partner, unlike Russia.
“We just had a meeting of world economic leaders, they discussed energy security, and the Polish Minister of Energy, Anna Moskwa, says bluntly: look, we had contracts, Bulgaria had contracts, but the Russians simply do not fulfill them. Therefore, it is not worth taking into account any agreements and papers signed by Russia, unlike the agreements with Ukraine,” the Naftogaz Board Chairman said.
As reported, Ukraine actively offers European companies to use Ukrainian UGS facilities. The customs warehouse regime allows natural gas to be stored in UGS facilities in Ukraine for three years without paying taxes and customs duties during its further transportation from the country.
In January of this year, gas storage operator Ukrtransgaz, a subsidiary of Naftogaz, indicated that the number of nonresident companies in its customer portfolio had grown 8 times over the past three years to 111 companies representing 27 countries from three continents: Europe, North America and Asia.
Ukraine’s GDP in 2022 will fall by 45.1%, the World Bank predicts, recalling that before the Russian invasion, it expected the Ukrainian economy to grow by 3.2% this year.
The Ukrainian economy is expected to contract by 35% in 2022, although precise measures of the damage to the Ukrainian economy are impossible to obtain, according to the updated World Economic Outlook of the International Monetary Fund released.
The Ministry of Finance expects a fall in Ukraine’s GDP in 2022 ranging from 35% to 50%, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko has said.
Due to the war unleashed by Russia, Ukraine’s gross public debt will increase to 86.2% of GDP in 2022 after declining from 61% of GDP to 49% of GDP last year, this forecast is given by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The fall of the Ukrainian economy in 2022 will be about 33% according to the base scenario, in which the war will last for another month and a half at the most, Oleksandr Pecheritsyn, a leading analyst at Raiffeisen Bank (Kyiv), said.
The negative balance of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-March 2022 decreased by 40 times compared to the same period in 2021 – to $31.6 million from $1271.6 million.
The rise of consumer prices in Ukraine in March 2022 accelerated to 4.5% from 1.6% in February, while 1.3% in January and 0.6% in December, the State Statistics Service has said.
Inflation in Ukraine by the end of 2022 may exceed 20% due to the consequences of a full-scale war, but it will be controlled, the National Bank of Ukraine said.
Due to the war unleashed by Russia, Ukraine’s gross public debt will increase to 86.2% of GDP in 2022 after declining from 61% of GDP to 49% of GDP last year, this forecast is given by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The transport enterprises of Ukraine (excluding the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as part of the JFO zone) in 2021 increased transportation of goods by 3.3% compared to 2020 – up to 619.9 million tonnes.
About 23% of Ukrainian retailers’ outlets are closed, most of the non-operating facilities are in the entertainment segment, according to a survey by the Association of Retailers of Ukraine.
“As of April 20, some 11,744 stores out of 15,263 that were open at the time of the start of full-scale aggression were operating. That is, 23% less – 3,521 are closed. Compared to March, the situation is improving, since then the relative loss of retail was 29.4% – 4,481 store,” the association said. Fresh review dedicated to macro economic figures is available via link https://youtu.be/dwh7Q6aZZBA
Economic Monitoring’s Project Manager – PhD in Economics, Maksim Urakin
