Permanent Representatives of the European Union member states have agreed to the Plan for Ukraine submitted by Kyiv, which is necessary for financing under the Ukraine Facility in the amount of EUR 50 billion for the period up to 2027.
The decision was made on Wednesday in Brussels as part of a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives, the Belgian Presidency reports on its Facebook page.
“The EU ambassadors agreed in principle to the Plan for Ukraine, which sets out the country’s reform efforts to receive EU financial assistance until 2027 under the Ukraine Facility,” the statement said.
The decision must then be approved by a qualified majority of the EU Economic and Financial Council, which will meet on May 14.
The Ukraine Facility is an instrument that provides for the possibility of Ukraine receiving EU financial and technical assistance totaling EUR 50 billion in 2024-2027. Of this amount, EUR 38.27 billion will be allocated for budgetary support, EUR 6.97 billion for the investment fund, and EUR 4.76 billion for technical and administrative support.
On March 18, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the plan for the Ukraine Facility, and on March 20, the document was submitted to the European Commission. On April 15, the EC gave its positive assessment of the plan.
Source: https://twitter.com/EU2024BE/status/1788167790513307684
The price of Ukrainian peas in the season-2024 will be at least $325 per 1 ton, said Antonina Skliarenko, the head of the Community of Pulses Producers and Consumers of Ukraine.
The association reminded that recently the Indian government announced the extension of the duty-free import of yellow peas to the country until October 3 this year. This decision was caused by serious weather problems, which negatively affected the yield of crops grown in the country and led to the development of a deficit in the domestic market.
“The global demand for Ukrainian yellow peas will remain stable until the end of the year, and prices will grow. Prices for the 2024 harvest of Ukrainian peas are expected to reach at least $325 per ton,” Skliarenko predicts.
According to her, Ukrainian farmers have already expanded the area under this pulses crop in anticipation of rising demand and prices on the global market. According to official data, 161 thou hectares of peas were planted in Ukraine, but the actual acreage is higher.
“The upcoming season promises to be successful for pea producers, as the global demand for the pulses grown at favorable prices will be met,” the head of the association is confident.
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk has signed a decree on the admission of journalists to the parliament building under martial law.
According to the press service of the Verkhovna Rada, the decree allows media representatives to cover the activities of parliament directly in the premises of the legislative body.
The order approves the regulation “On accreditation of media at the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation for the period of martial law in Ukraine”.
Stefanchuk and the head of the parliamentary staff Vyacheslav Shtuchny met with journalists and informed them about the peculiarities of media work in the press center of the Verkhovna Rada, in particular, about actions during the announcement of an air alert. The media representatives were shown the simplest shelter of the parliament building, where they will be obliged to go down during an air alert.
Stefanchuk said that despite the restrictions during martial law, it is important for journalists to be able to cover the activities of the legislative body. He also informed that given the need to comply with security requirements, a maximum of 30 people can work in the press center.
The Danish government is allocating a new humanitarian aid package for Ukraine in the amount of DKK 250 million (€33.5 million), which, in particular, provides for the protection of the most vulnerable groups, the press service of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.
“…With this new support package, we aim to provide urgent and vital humanitarian assistance and protection to the most vulnerable groups,” said Danish Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy Dan Jorgensen.
The package provides basic emergency assistance such as food, medicine, water and shelter for Ukrainians in the most affected areas of the Russian aggression, with a special focus on protecting the most vulnerable people in Ukraine.
“The support package also contributes to efforts to prevent, mitigate and respond to the particular risks faced by women and girls, including the risk of sexual and gender-based violence, and contributes to the provision of, for example, psychosocial support and maternal health care,” the statement said.
At the same time, only a quarter of state-owned companies submit financial statements to the State Statistics Service
Almost 800 state and state-owned companies submitted financial statements in 2023, according to the State Statistics Service. Every year, 40% of these companies are unprofitable. It is worth noting that only a quarter of public sector companies comply with the law and submit their financial statements to the State Statistics Service.
789 state and state-owned enterprises submitted financial reports in 2023. This is only a quarter of all state-owned companies in Ukraine in 2024. Only 475 companies reported on their financial success in 2021.
“In contrast to private business, state-owned enterprises have significant advantages – in addition to being state-owned, such companies are often monopolists. That is, if managed properly, they have every opportunity to be even more profitable than private businesses.
However, according to the State Statistics Service’s financial statements, almost half of SOEs are unprofitable even under such conditions. We have created the Register of State-Owned Companies to make it easier to compare their financial performance and see which state-owned property is working as inefficiently as possible,” comments Oleksiy Ivankin, Head of the Open Data Base.
“We monitor the efficiency of state-owned enterprises on the page Register of State-Owned Enterprises.
On average, 40% of state-owned enterprises that have submitted reports are unprofitable. For example, last year, out of 789 companies, 313 suffered losses (39.7%), and in 2022, out of 797 companies, 389 were unprofitable. In 2021, 30.9% of those who reported their financial situation were unprofitable.
Boryspil Airport suffered the largest losses last year, amounting to UAH 1.4 billion. Dobropilliavuhillya-Vydobutok is the leader in terms of loss growth, which increased almost 12 times, from UAH 122 million to almost UAH 1.4 billion over the year.
Despite a significant number of loss-making companies, there are also those that are increasing their turnover. For example, Ukrspetsexport’s turnover grew by almost a third over the year, to UAH 32 billion. And Pavlohrad Chemical Plant has increased its turnover by 2.6 times to UAH 8.2 billion since the start of the full-scale war.
Despite the high turnover, the leaders in terms of profit are completely different enterprises. The most profitable state-owned enterprise in the country is the Forests of Ukraine, with UAH 2.8 billion. The Chornomorsk trade port demonstrated the largest increase in profits: its profits increased 26 times over the year, from UAH 37.2 million to UAH 986 million.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/state-companies-2024
The Cabinet of Ministers proposes that the Verkhovna Rada ratify the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Turkey, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
“Improving working conditions for Ukrainian entrepreneurs means expanding export opportunities. Today the government will approve and submit to the parliament a bill on ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Turkey,” Shmyhal said at a government meeting on Tuesday.
According to the prime minister, duties on a significant number of Ukrainian goods, including 93% of industrial goods, will be canceled.
“Turkey is among our top five trading partners. Therefore, the Agreement creates new opportunities for Ukrainian business,” Shmyhal emphasized.
According to the Ministry of Economy, the Agreement provides for the abolition of import duties on about 93.4% of industrial goods and 7.6% of agricultural goods from Ukraine. After the end of the transition period of 3-7 years, Turkey will cancel import duties for another 1.5% of industrial goods and 28.5% of agricultural goods.
Ukraine, for its part, will cancel import duties on about 56% of industrial goods and 11.5% of agricultural goods.
After the expiration of the transition periods (2-5 years for industrial goods, 2-10 years for agricultural goods), Ukraine will abolish import duties for another 43.2% of industrial goods and 53.7% of agricultural goods.
In general, the Ministry of Economy added, the provisions of the Agreement cover trade in goods and services, the application of the provisions of the Pan-Euro-Med Convention to determine the origin of goods, intellectual property rights, the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, the abolition of technical barriers to trade, e-commerce, customs cooperation, the commercial presence of enterprises, and the application of safeguard measures.
After ratification by the parliaments of the countries, the Agreement will enter into force 2 months after the last party receives confirmation of the completion of domestic procedures.
