Enterprises and organizations of Ukraine in 2020 reduced their pretax profit from ordinary activities by 41%, to UAH 264.4 billion (in 2019 it was UAH 446.9 billion), the State Statistics Service has reported.
According to the State Statistics Service, last year Ukrainian enterprises that worked profitably received UAH 602.3 billion in profit, which is 2.9% less than in 2019.
At the same time, 29.2% of enterprises saw losses. Their losses in 2020 grew by 94.6% compared to 2019, to UAH 337.9 billion.
FOREIGN TRADE TURNOVER BY THE MOST IMPORTANT POSITIONS IN JAN 2021 (IMPORT)
Bogdan Corporation, in a consortium with Czech company Tram For Envi, will supply six new autonomous trolleybuses for the transport company in Jihlava (the Czech Republic) following a tender in which the consortium was declared the winner almost a year ago, the corporation said on its Facebook page on Saturday with reference to the Czech media.
“For the first time, the Ukrainian manufacturer has managed to penetrate the Czech market with new trolleybuses. The signing of the contract can be seen from the data in the register of contracts. The contract was signed almost a year after the transport company Jihlava had declared the association the winner. The purchase will be financed through a European subsidy,” the Czech ezine Zdopravy.cz quoted Bogdan corporation as saying.
According to the contract, the Bogdan T70120 trolleybuses must be adapted to the requirements of the Czech market, in particular, the electrical equipment for them must be supplied by the Czech company Cegelec. The delivery time is estimated at 14 months.
The Czech newspaper notes that before that, for many years, only Škoda Electric had won contracts for the supply of trolleybuses, and the arrival of other manufacturers began to lead to significant price reductions.
As reported, in May 2020, a tender proposal of Bogdan Corporation in a consortium with Czech TRAM FOR ENVI s.r.o. was declared the best in a tender to supply six trolleybuses fitted with traction batteries for autonomous running for a transport company of Jihlava (the Czech Republic). The Czech-Ukrainian consortium offered trolleybuses for CZK 71.4 million (about EUR 2.64 million) or CZK 11.9 million for one trolleybus (EUR 440,300) with an estimated purchase amount of being CZK 82.74 million (EUR 3.06 million).
At the same time, Škoda Electric, which participated in the tender, offered a price of CZK 82.17 million (EUR 3.04 million) or CZK 13.695 million for a trolleybus.
The public and guaranteed debt of Ukraine after growth last year from 50.3% of GDP to 60.8% of GDP in 2021 will decrease to 55.8% of GDP, this updated forecast is contained in the inflation report of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
“Compliance with a balanced fiscal policy in the context of economic growth and low exchange rate volatility will allow to resume the decline in the level of government and government-guaranteed debt, as well as keep it below 60% of GDP,” the NBU said.
According to its estimates, in the first two months of 2021, the debt has already decreased to 58.4% of GDP, amounting to UAH 2.55 trillion in absolute terms (36.5% in national currency and 63.5% in foreign currency).
The National Bank said that in 2021 the government will still maintain a significant budget deficit (according to NBU estimates 4% of GDP, UAH 200.2 billion) to revive the economy and overcome the pandemic.
“However, in the future, in the context of sustainable economic growth, government incentives will decrease, which will gradually improve the debt position. Accordingly, in 2022-2023, the deficit is expected to decrease to 3% of GDP (UAH 165 billion in 2022 and UAH 181.9 billion in 2023),” the bank said in the report.
According to it, the National Bank does not expect financing of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy and additional capitalization of state-owned banks in the next three years. The volume of government guarantees, according to its estimates, will decrease from UAH 80 billion in 2021 to UAH 34.4 billion in 2022 and UAH 36.8 billion in 2023.
Deputy Minister of Health, Chief Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine Viktor Liashko has announced withdrawal next week from the “red zone” of the epidemiological danger for Kyiv and five regions.
“According to our forecasts, Lviv, Kyiv (any day), Kyiv, Zaporizhia, Odesa and Poltava regions will get out of the red level during the next week,” Liashko wrote on his Facebook page on Friday evening.
Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Romania, Dmytro Kuleba and Bogdan Aurescu, noted the readiness of the two states to start a strategic partnership, “taking into account the current level of relations between Kyiv and Bucharest and proceeding from the centuries of friendly coexistence of our peoples in Central Europe and the Black Sea region.”
This was discussed during Kuleba’s working trip to Romania, the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
“Ukraine seeks to officially start a strategic partnership with Romania. This means a special relationship between our states. Aurescu and I agreed to make this a reality,” Kuleba said.
The parties agreed to hold consultations as soon as possible between the involved ministries of Ukraine and Romania to remove obstacles to the opening of additional checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Romanian border and the implementation of joint infrastructure projects.
The parties agreed to intensify the activities of the working group on cooperation in the energy sector.
The interlocutors discussed preparations for the Crimean Platform summit as part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.
“Aurescu announced the readiness of the Romanian side to send a military unit of the armed forces of Romania to participate in a military parade in the capital of Ukraine,” the message says.
