Ukraine has presented in the United States 30 of the most relevant projects in the electric power industry with an expected cost of $16.85 billion, having constructively discussed them, in particular, with the leadership of the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the World Bank, Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko said.
“We have constructively talked with the leadership of the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the World Bank about raising funds for the implementation of projects to develop the Ukrainian energy sector and strengthen energy security. The expected cost of the 30 most urgent projects in the electric power sector is $16.85 billion. The total investment demand for projects in the electric power industry is $25 billion,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday, summing up the work during the visit of the President of Ukraine to the United States.
According to him, the general atmosphere of the meetings and the agreements reached allow us to confidently declare: Ukraine really has the support of the United States in strengthening its energy security and independence.
He also said that “productive meetings” by Deputy Head of the U.S. Department of State Victoria Nuland; Senior Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State Amos Hochstein; the leadership of the U.S. Bureau of Energy Resources, as well as the agreement on technical assistance for the implementation of decarbonization measures in Ukraine with U.S. Assistance Secretary of Energy Andrew Light and U.S. Secretary of Energy Jenniffer Granholm’s support for energy reform.
He also drew attention to the signing by Energoatom of a number of agreements with Westinghouse and NuScale, calling them “significant steps forward in the nuclear energy sector.”
According to him, meetings with LNG Allies (Association of LNG and Liquefied Natural Gas Producers) and DFC (U.S. International Development Finance Corporation) confirmed the interest of the U.S. companies in partnership with Ukraine, the potential of which is huge and the Energy Ministry is determined to implement it.
“It is very important that both the Ukrainian and American sides are aimed at achieving a concrete result,” the minister said.
The Ministry of Finance has proposed that spending on health care is budgeted at 4.5% of GDP, on education at 7.2% in the consolidated document for 2022, the ministry said on its website on Friday.
“We plan to budget spending on healthcare at 4.5% of GDP for next year,” the press service of Deputy Finance Minister Roman Yermolychev reported, citing him speaking after a meeting with representatives of trade unions and employers regarding budgeting for 2022.
At the same time, Yermolychev emphasized the need to improve the efficiency of the use of funds not only in medicine, but also in education.
“In the field of education, funds should work for education. Next year, it is planned about 7.2% of GDP according to the consolidated budget. We assume the possibility of updating the material and technical base of schools and supporting the organization of high-quality meals for students of general secondary educational institutions,” the Deputy Minister of Finance said.
As reported, when preparing the state budget for 2021, ex-Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov insisted on the need to budget 5% of GDP on health care. In turn, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said that an increase in financing of the Ministry of Health to 5% may occur in 2023 thanks to a gradual increase in this dynamics from 4.2% of GDP budgeted in 2021.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky discussed with Apple CEO Tim Cook the census project and the Ukrainization of Siri’s personal assistant, the press service of the Ukrainian leader said.
“It was about the population census project, which Apple successfully implemented in the United States, and the possibility of cooperation in the implementation of a similar task in Ukraine,” the press service said.
The parties also discussed the possibility of Apple building a data center for iCloud services in Ukraine, following the example of the center, which was built in Denmark. They also touched upon the Ukrainian localization of Apple products, including Siri personal assistant.
Zelensky told Cook about the achievements of our country in the IT sphere and expressed interest in further expanding Apple’s presence in Ukraine, in particular through online support teams, Apple Music and AppStore moderators, as well as device maintenance service.
“Today Ukraine is a powerful global IT hub. Our specialists successfully cooperate with Fortune 500 companies, including Apple,” he said.
The head of state presented the Diia.City project to the Apple CEO.
In addition, during the meeting, the parties discussed the possibility of cooperation in the direction of education in the field of programming for schoolchildren, students, veterans, medical workers, as well as providing schools and teachers with computers to support those programs that are already being implemented in Ukraine.
The introduction of antidumping duties on imports of Turkish-made cement may lead to an increase in prices for Ukrainian products by 50%, as well as lead to an increase in prices for repairs, housing, construction of infrastructure facilities, former state commissioner of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) and founder of the League of Antitrust Ahia Zahrebelska said.
“Two years ago, the Ministry of Economy has already introduced duties on Russian, Belarusian and Moldovan cement, as a result of which the price for Ukrainian cement has grown to 40%. After the introduction of duties on Turkish cement with a simultaneous rise in the price for energy resources, the price may rise by another 50%, “she wrote on Facebook.
So, with an increase in cement prices, the budgetary costs for construction of roads, infrastructure projects under Big Construction will increase, the cost of real estate, the prime cost of which includes the cost of cement, as well as individual repair work using cement will increase, the expert said.
According to Zahrebelska, the share of imports in the Ukrainian cement market is only about 10%, but this creates competitive pressure on Ukrainian producers and restrains the growth of their prices. At the same time, the next introduction of import duties will allow large national producers to increase prices for their products.
The expert notes that the AMCU previously sent recommendations to PrJSC Kryvy Rih Cement, PrJSC Mykolaivcement, PJSC Podilsky Cement, and PrJSC Ivano-Frankivsk Cement, which occupy 90% of the market, not to raise prices in anticipation of antidumping measures. At the same time, Zahrebelska points to a significant increase in prices and profits of enterprises after the introduction of duties on imports of cement from Russia, Belarus and Moldova.
According to her, the League of Antitrust (NGO Union for the Protection of Competition and Consumers) has prepared an appeal to the AMCU regarding monopoly high prices for cement.
“The League of Antitrust is convinced that the Antimonopoly Committee can stop the manipulations if it starts investigating violations in the actions of the cement association members and stops the unreasonable rise in prices observed in recent years,” the organization said in the appeal.
Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko sees the potential to keep inflation within 10%.
“There are hopes that it will be possible to keep inflation within 10%, not exceeding 10%,” he said during the Ukrainian Financial Forum, organized by ICU.
According to the State Statistics Service, inflation in July 2021 in Ukraine increased to 10.2% in annual terms, while in June this figure was at the level of 9.5%. At the same time, the NBU expects that by the end of the third quarter, inflation will peak this year at 11.2%.
Commenting on deteriorating expectations of a number of investment banks regarding the growth of the Ukrainian economy, the minister noted that these forecasts are based on GDP growth in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.
“It is still difficult to estimate the end of the year, because main capital investments and expenditures are planned for the third or fourth quarter,” Marchenko said.
According to him, the situation will improve, as evidenced by the constant growth of retail turnover, as well as the growth potential of the construction industry.
“By the end of the year, we expect a stable situation both in public finances and in the economy, without sharp shocks. I think that we will have 4% of GDP growth this year,” Marchenko said.
FINANCE MINISTER, INFLATION, SERHIY MARCHENKO, UKRAINE'S INFLATION
The agricultural exporter Kernel-Trade and the company specializing in wholesale trade in metals and metal ores Polyus Trading topped the list of the largest recipients of budgetary value added tax (VAT) refunds in August with an indicator of over UAH 1 billion, according to data of the State Treasury Service.
According to them, Kernel-Trade received almost UAH 1.6 billion of VAT refunds last month, Polyus Trading – UAH 1.095 billion, while there is no information on the budgetary refund of this tax to these companies in July.
The top five largest recipients of budgetary VAT refunds in August were also two steel plants – Zaporizhstal – UAH 407 million (in July – UAH 282 million) and ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih – UAH 386 million (UAH 315 million), as well as the agricultural exporter ADM Ukraine – UAH 231 million (UAH 159 million), the State Treasury Service said.
The second top five in the list are opened by Poltava Mining and Processing Plant – UAH 182 million (UAH 187.3 million) and Pivdenny Mining and Processing Plant – UAH 170 million (there are no data on reimbursement in July).
The top ten are closed by Viterra Ukraine – UAH 163 million (UAH 194.7 million), Yeristovo Mining and Processing Plant that topped the July list – UAH 157 million (UAH 383 million), as well as AGT – UAH 144 million (UAH 306.2 million), according to the treasury data.
The third five largest recipients in August looked like this: Mykolaiv Alumina Plant – UAH 121 million (UAH 120 million), Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant – UAH 110 million (UAH 190.5 million), Optimusagro Trade – UAH 96 million (UAH 144 million), and Leoni Wiring Systems UA GMBH – UAH 94 million (UAH 200 million).
Two more companies received over UAH 90 million in VAT refunds in August: Nika-Agrotrade – UAH 91 million (UAH 143 million) and Mondelez Ukraine – UAH 90 million (UAH 45 million).
According to the State Treasury Service, in general, in August 2021, budgetary reimbursement decreased to UAH 10.78 billion compared to UAH 11.15 billion in July and UAH 11.99 billion in June.
