The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has added two more parks to the Register of Industrial Parks – EcoStyle in Dnipropetrovs’k region and Iskra in Ivano-Frankivsk region, the press service of the Ministry of Economy reports.
According to the report, the government made the decision at a meeting on October 6, 2023.
The press service clarifies that both parks will operate in the processing industry and create a total of more than 1800 jobs.
In particular, the EcoSteel industrial park in the territory of Novopil village council, Kryvyi Rih district, Dnipro region, will specialize in the production of metallurgical products, metalworking, processing of metallurgical waste, building materials, logistics, etc. It is planned to create about 900 jobs.
The Iskra Industrial Park, initiated by Pidhaichyky village council (Kolomyia district, Ivano-Frankivsk region), will focus on food production, textile manufacturing, and wood processing.
The park will also be home to companies producing wood and cork products, furniture, hardware, machinery and equipment. About 950 jobs are expected to be created.
Thus, according to the Ministry of Economy, 67 parks have already been included in the Register of Industrial Parks.
As reported, the law provides for exemption from VAT and duties on imports of new equipment, as well as from income tax for 10 years for residents of the IPs; preferential rates of real estate tax and land fees from local authorities.
At the same time, according to Dmytro Kysylevskyi, Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Development, up to half of the registered IPs may soon be removed from the register due to inactivity (parks registered between 2013 and 2019).
The Cabinet of Ministers has appointed Yuriy Bolokhovets, who has been acting director of the state specialized economic enterprise Forests of Ukraine since late April, as CEO.
Taras Melnychuk, a representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, wrote on Telegram that the decision was made at a government meeting on Friday.
As reported, on April 28, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed Bolokhovets from the post of head of the State Agency of Forest Resources, which he had held since 2021.
In September 2022, Ukraine launched a reform of the state forestry industry, which merged all 158 forestry enterprises in the country into the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” and consolidated 24 regional forestry departments into nine regional forestry and hunting departments.
It was noted that in the first half of 2023, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” doubled its net profit to UAH 1.6 billion, and sales of forest products increased by 20% to 5.3 million cubic meters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will pay an official visit to Romania next week, Digi24 TV channel reported on Friday, citing its own sources.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and other officials of the country.
It is reported that this will be the first visit of the Ukrainian president to Romania since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The possibility of such a visit was previously announced by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on the same TV channel.
Iohannis and Zelenskyy already met on Thursday in Granada, Spain, at the summit of the European Political Community.
Earlier, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu also announced his visit to Ukraine. The prime minister and some government ministers will go to Kyiv for talks with representatives of the Ukrainian government to establish as many points of cooperation as possible. These include security, energy, agriculture, and many other issues that need to be addressed by the two countries.
Currently, 39% of Ukrainian medical institutions are experiencing a shortage of specialists, with a particularly acute shortage in the de-occupied territories.
This conclusion was made by experts of the National Agency humanitarian aid ZDOROVI following the results of the next wave of the quarterly Barometer survey of the state of medicine in Ukraine.
“The shortage of personnel is especially noticeable in the de-occupied territories, as there is a low percentage of specialists returning to their jobs,” the agency said in a press release.
At the same time, according to the agency’s press release, the number of staff in about 47% of medical institutions has not changed compared to the pre-war period.
The researchers note that 76% of medical institutions operate under partial resource shortages, and 11% consider the level of shortage to be critical.
At the same time, more than 60% of respondents noted a significant impact of the work of humanitarian organizations on the level of provision of medical facilities.
At the same time, according to the survey, 69% of respondents rated the level of medical staff training to work in a difficult security situation as average, 20% of respondents called their level low, 45% of respondents identified a critical need for personal protective equipment and special equipment to work in a disaster.
“When specifying the material needs for personal protective equipment and special equipment, respondents most often mentioned individual chemical protective packages, gas masks, chemical protection suits, special vehicles, oxygen stations, generators, gabions, body armor, helmets, and equipment for bomb shelters. 73% of respondents are interested in receiving training in disaster medicine,” the press release says.
The new wave of the Barometer survey involved 180 representatives of medical institutions and health departments from different regions of Ukraine, including the frontline and de-occupied territories.
Zdorovi cooperates with international partners, including ICAP Ednannia, RAZOM for UKRAINE, NOVA Ukraine, Americares, the Netherlands Refugee Council and other charitable foundations and organizations.
Freight transportation by rail, million tons
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Ukraine’s international reserves amounted to $39 billion 708.2 million as of October 1, 2023, according to preliminary data, the National Bank of Ukraine said on its website Friday.
“They decreased by 1.7% in September as a result of the NBU’s interventions to sell foreign currency to cover the difference between supply and demand in Ukraine’s foreign exchange market and the country’s debt payments in foreign currency, largely offset by receipts from international partners,” the NBU pointed out.
It specified that the government’s foreign currency accounts in the central bank received $3.329 billion, of which $1.592 billion – macro-financial assistance from the EU, $1.25 billion – a grant from the United States through the World Bank Trust Fund, $386.4 million – from the placement of foreign currency bonds of the internal state loan (OVGZ) and $100 million – from the World Bank under the guarantee of the United Kingdom.
At the same time, the Ukrainian government paid $465.3m for servicing and repayment of state debt in foreign currency, of which $388.9m – for servicing and repayment of foreign currency bonds, $51.1m – debt to the World Bank. In addition, Ukraine paid $882.1 million to the International Monetary Fund.
In addition, the National Bank in September sold $2.692 billion in the foreign exchange market, having bought back only $0.7 million, and the revaluation of financial instruments (as a result of changes in market value and exchange rates) increased the value of financial instruments by $12.9 million.
“The current volume of international reserves provides financing for 5.3 months of future imports,” the NBU pointed out. Earlier, the Experts Club research project and Maksim Urakin released an analytical video about the economy of Ukraine and the world – https://youtu.be/zCJ1cU3n0sY?si=hn2qK7REvGl9egn2.
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