The Verkhovna Rada has approved amendments to the Land Code and other laws to improve the management and deregulation system in the field of land relations. Some 284 MPs backed at the final reading bill No. 2194.
As reported, the parliament began the second reading of bill No. 2194 on amendments to the Land Code and other laws to improve the management and deregulation system in the field of land relations on March 16.
The bill received 3,128 proposals and amendments, mainly from MPs from the Opposition Platform – For Life and Batkivschyna parliamentary factions.
According to the rules of procedure of the Verkhovna Rada, MPs cannot consider other issues until they finish consideration of the initiated bill.
The Dobrobut medical network begins expansion in the regions, Ihor Mazepa, the founder and CEO of Concorde Capital, has said.
“The goal is to build a medical ATB. We are going beyond Kyiv and starting regional expansion,” he told Forbs.
Mazepa also said that capex for Dobrobut for the next five years will amount to $200-230 million.
He predicted that Dobrobut will earn $20 million of EBITDA in 2022 and the company’s value during this time “should grow to $200 million.”
“Dobrobut annually grows in sales by 40-45%. Our bet, which we placed on medicine five years ago, is beginning to be seriously paid off. I hope that after some time this business will cost more than $500 million,” he said.
In general, Mazepa estimates the Ukrainian medical market at $8 billion.
“The state still dominates in medicine. But the future belongs to private companies, and in five years they will come to the fore,” Mazepa said.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 28/04/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of April 28
The Verkhovna Rada adopted at the final reading bill on amendments to Section II Final and Transitional Provisions of the Law of Ukraine on amendments to certain laws of Ukraine concerning reducing the shortage of ferrous scrap on the domestic market, which is proposed to prolong the export duty in the amount of EUR 58 per tonne for another five years.
Some 291 MPs backed the bill at a parliamentary session on Tuesday.
One of the authors of bill No. 5175, Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Economic Development Dmytro Kysylevsky, in his Facebook post, expressed his satisfaction with the adoption of the bill.
At the same time, he recalled that the duty was first introduced in 2016 to moderate the export of scarce raw materials from Ukraine. The metallurgical industry, which provides 10% of the national GDP, 35% of merchandise exports and 200,000 jobs, cannot work without it. After all, there is no technology that allows getting steel without using scrap metal.
“As the deputy head of the parliamentary committee for economic development, I understand that only the export of products with high added value will allow us to become a strong and rich country. In this case, 1 tonne of exported scrap gives Ukraine a little less than UAH 2,000 (this is the payment of the EUR 58 duty), while 1 tonne of the same scrap processed into finished steel products at Ukrainian steel plants brings about UAH 8,000 in taxes. That is, it is four times more profitable for the state to process scrap into metal and then into finished products than to export raw materials,” the parliamentarian said.
According to him, in this case there is no question of choice: to export raw materials or processed products with added value. At the same time, he said that if the initiative to extend the duty did not receive the necessary support from MPs, then 21,000 jobs and about UAH 1 billion of taxes per year would be lost for the Ukrainian state.
“And, of course, we need to think about the future. The EU Green Deal further increases the value of scrap as a raw material for metallurgy: its use in electric arc furnaces reduces CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared to conventional technologies of steel production in converters and open-hearth furnaces. And since Ukraine undertakes to reduce CO2 emissions, it is necessary to take care of the resources for this, as other countries are already doing,” Kysylevsky said, adding that the European metallurgical association Eurofer generally demands to ban the export of scrap metal from the EU, taking into account the EU Green Deal.
“At the same time, I want to reassure the skeptics: the bill does not contradict our international obligations. This is a temporary measure that is not discriminatory. It complies with the WTO law on security exceptions: we have a war, a chronic trade deficit, Crimea is annexed. International partners understand this. Therefore, no claims were made against Ukraine during the period of the duty since 2016. And now official Kyiv has a confident negotiating position in the WTO,” the MP said.
Naftogaz Group reduced capital expenditures (capex) by 44.5% (or by UAH 12.193 billion) in 2020 compared to 2019, to UAH 15.044 billion.
As indicated in the consolidated statements of the group published on Tuesday, capex of the exploration and production segment was UAH 11.023 billion (a fall of 26.2% to 2019), oil midstream and downstream – UAH 1.185 billion (a fall of 35.4%), Ukrnafta – UAH 1.113 billion (a fall of 23%), gas storage – UAH 0.143 billion (a rise of 3.3 times), commerce – UAH 0.133 billion (a rise of 11.1 times), other – UAH 1.448 billion (a fall of 83.8%).
As reported, the consolidated net loss of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy in 2020 amounted to UAH 19.002 billion compared to a net profit of UAH 63.294 billion in 2019. Excluding the results of the discontinued operations, including the Gas Transit Arbitration award of UAH 55.7 billion, the net profit was UAH 2.6 billion.
Naftogaz’s revenues in 2020 grew by 27.1% (by UAH 41.184 billion) compared to 2019, to UAH 193.017 billion, including income from sales being UAH 159.234 billion (a rise of 6.3%), compensation for performing public service obligations totaling UAH 32.205 billion (a rise of 100%), and interest and other income reaching UAH 1.578 billion (a fall of 23.1%).
The net loss of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, as a separate legal entity, in 2020 amounted to UAH 18.002 billion versus UAH 50.658 billion of net profit for 2019. Net income last year decreased 32.1% compared to 2019, to UAH 121.059 billion.
