2022-2024 goods trade balance forecast (USD billion)
NBU
NNEGC “Energoatom” state enterprise will increase the raise to the official salary of the pro-Ukrainian personnel of Zaporizhzhia NPP for work in difficult conditions of the occupation starting from January 1, 2023.
“Already from January 1, 2023 the size of this allowance will increase up to 50%. Ukrainian ZNPP personnel will receive the money immediately after the deoccupation of the plant and its liberation from the Rashists,” the company said in a Telegram channel in the evening of December 27.
Initially “Energoatom” introduced a surcharge at the rate of 20% of official salary, which is accrued for work in difficult conditions of occupation for the personnel of Zaporizhzhya NPP in April 2022.
In general, as NNEGC Energoatom president Petro Kotin said, the company guarantees payment of all financial obligations to ZNPP personnel with a pro-Ukrainian stance. We are talking about salaries, allowances for work in difficult conditions of the occupation, remuneration at the end of the year and bonuses for the Day of Power Engineers.
“The patriots will receive all these payments in full, even if they are in forced downtime due to the fact that they are not allowed to work by the Rashists,” Kotin, quoted in the Telegram channel, stressed.
In addition, the trade union committee of the NAEC assumed financial support of the evacuated family members of Energoatom workers, who remained at their work places, and of the evacuated personnel. As of today, all of them in total have already been paid more than 74 million hryvnias, the company noted.
“At the same time, female workers with children under seven years of age from September to November this year were set an additional payment in the amount of the minimum wage. The total amount of this assistance amounted to more than 16 million hryvnias,” the NAEC added.
Also, as reported by the head of the primary trade union organization “Energoatom” Alexei Lych, the company is currently working out algorithms of compensation of possible financial losses of the pro-Ukrainian personnel of ZNPP in case the occupants are not allowed to work.
On December 26, Energoatom approved a collective agreement for 2023-2024.
During the last two months a series of scientific and practical seminars-tastings of vintage drinks of 20-80 years old were held on the basis of Analytical center “Club of experts” with the assistance of a public association “Ukrsadvindindprom” and Charity fund “Reconstruction and development of Ukraine”. Representatives of Ukrainian wine industry, retail, mass media and other experts took part in these seminars.
All in all, participants of the workshops got acquainted with more than 40 kinds of vintage alcohol, produced in Ukraine and European countries in the second half of the last century. The total age of the drinks exceeds 3000 years.
In particular, such famous Ukrainian collection brands, as “Massandra sherry” from the 1980s and “Black Doctor” from 2007 were presented at the conferences. Among the European alcoholic brands the participants distinguished a rare sherry brandy “Hispano” 1870 (!), another Spanish drink “Ponche Rives” 1978, vermouth “Marsala” 1950-ies and other drinks. All in all 15 different vintage drinks were evaluated by the participants.
According to the words of the expert-collector of vintage alcoholic drinks Igor Magalas, the cost of the majority of samples which were presented at the seminars does not exceed the prices of similar drinks on supermarket shelves. At the same time, the taste and eco-friendliness of vintage drinks are an order of magnitude superior to many modern brands.
“The thing is that the automation of alcohol production lines, which became widespread at the end of the last century, led to a natural decline in quality for the sake of quantity. More than once I faced situations when at closed tastings sommelier experts preferred lower class vintage alcohol produced in the 1960s-1970s to modern expensive brands bottled in the 2000s-2010s,” Magalyas noted.
According to the expert, the reason for this is not the number of years the drink has been in the bottle, but the technological process of production at the initial stages, which largely affects the bouquet and taste of any alcohol.
Maxim Urakin, the organizer of the series of seminars, in turn, expressed hope for the further development of the vintage drinks market in Ukraine and for promotion of the culture of their consumption in the new year 2023.
“We will continue the promotion of vintage alcohol in the Ukrainian market. In Europe this product has a wide consumer audience for a long time, while in our country it is still considered “elite” and unavailable, although in my opinion it is a delusion. Therefore, the main purpose of our seminars, to make vintage alcohol more accessible to Ukrainians” – he stressed.
Vintage (molesim) in wine-making means the year of ripening of a certain grape variety which is used to produce wine, brandy, cognac or other vintage-based drinks. This indicator is important in determining the characteristics of the drink because weather and climatic conditions change every season, which may affect both positive and negative effects on the organoleptic characteristics of beverages of the same brand.
The Club of Experts is Kiev analytical center, which is engaged in researches in the field of economics, sociology and other scientific disciplines. In particular, with the assistance of the Club of experts during the last year there were held several events for the promotion of the national winemaking products.
Public Union “Ukrsadvindindprom” was a partner of the seminar and tasting. “Ukrsadvindwinprom” unites about 200 producers of fruits, berries, nuts and grapes, enterprises that process fruits and berries and produce wine, as well as scientific institutions for implementation of new scientific approaches in production.
The “Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine” Charitable Foundation has been providing extensive volunteer support to the army and civilians since the war began. In particular, with the support of KNUSA Rector Petr Kulikov, the foundation donated a modern mobile hospital for the needs of the military.
CLUB_EXPERTS, CONFERENCE, SCIENCE, UKRSADVINPROM, URAKIN, VINTAGE_WINE, WINE, WINEMAKING
Kiev’s permanent population is currently about 3.6 million, including 300,000 refugees from other regions of Ukraine, compared to 3.8 million before the war, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
In an interview with Spiegel published Friday, when asked if he knew how many people were left in Kiev, the mayor answered in the affirmative, referring to statistics on cell phone usage.
“We count how many cell phones are being used. Before the war there were 3.8 million people here, in March less than a million, in July two, two and a half million, now 3.6 million. 300,000 of them are registered refugees from other parts of the country. The city is full,” Klitschko said.
Asked about the restoration of power, water and heating supplies in the Ukrainian capital, he said that water and heating are already back in almost every apartment in Kiev. “The power supply deficit is 50%. Sometimes we turn off electricity in one district to turn it on in another district and vice versa. The situation is complicated, but under control,” the mayor said.
When asked how he assesses Germany’s position on Russia and Ukraine since the war began, the mayor replied, “The biggest mistake of Western politicians was thinking that Putin would be satisfied with the annexation of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. I know Putin’s mentality: he goes as far as we allow him to go.”
Klitschko also said that “the war will end when the last Russian soldier leaves our territory.”
According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the population of Kiev in 2019 was 2 million 966 thousand people. The population of the Kiev agglomeration (Kiev with its suburbs) exceeds 4 million people. Also a significant number of people registered in other localities live permanently in the capital.
According to the results of 2022, the Kyivmiskbud holding company put into operation more than 101,700 square meters of housing, Kyivmiskbud President Ihor Kushnir has said.
“During 2022, we managed to put into operation three residential complexes – Raiduzhny, Hvardiysky and Phase One of Obereg-2. In general, more than 101,700 square meters. And four parking lots for 617 cars,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday.
As reported, at the end of 2021, PJSC Kyivmiskbud Holding Company reduced its net profit by 18.4% compared to the financial result in 2020, to UAH 5.725 million.
Ukraine has attracted more than $31 billion from international partners since February 24, 2022, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said at the last regular government meeting this year on Friday.
“We’ve said many times this year that armies win battles and economies win wars. We’ve managed to keep financial, banking and economic stability. We managed to fund all key budget expenditures.
We have not delayed pensions, doctors’ or teachers’ salaries. Every week we have held and continue to hold talks to mobilize more support for Ukraine. During these 10 months we have already raised more than $31 billion from our partners, “- said Shmygal. The prime minister stressed that next year the authorities also understand how they will fund the budget and reconstruction.
“Another step in support of healthy public finances was a successful debt policy. Negotiations conducted by the government and the Ministry of Finance ended with all payments on foreign debt being postponed for 2 years. About 200 billion hryvnias were raised from the sale of war bonds. International support has become very important,” he said.
At the same time, Shmygal noted that 2/3 of all funds, which Ukraine received in the budget, is a domestic resource – the payment of taxes, duties, and the purchase of bonds.
