Sweden has contributed EUR25.27 million to the Energy Support Fund of Ukraine, the Ministry of Energy has announced.
“Part of the Swedish contribution has already been paid to provide the necessary assistance to the distribution system operators of the frontline regions of Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv, as well as for the needs of the transmission system operator,” the Energy Ministry said in a release following a meeting between its head Herman Halushchenko and Swedish Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Energy, Business and Industry Abba Bush.
In addition, about EUR 8 million of the Swedish grant is intended to finance the implementation of decentralized renewable energy solutions, including solar panels, batteries, microgrids, and energy efficiency measures for social services and households.
Since March 2022, Ukraine has also received 97 shipments of power equipment from Sweden with a total weight of over 1126 tons, including 222 generators, current and voltage transformers, and other electricity and gas equipment for renewable energy.
“We will continue to help Ukraine in these difficult times of trial by providing assistance to help them recover from the latest hostile attacks. These days, we see Russia using energy as a weapon once again,” Bush said during the meeting, the key topic of which was the continuation of Swedish support for Ukraine in the war against the Russian aggressor, assistance to the Ukrainian energy sector, and strengthening cooperation in nuclear energy and renewable energy.
According to her, the Ukrainian experience in strengthening the resilience and support of the energy system is extremely important and useful for Europe.
According to the Ministry of Energy, the Vice Prime Minister emphasized the minister’s special efforts to maintain contacts with her colleagues, the energy ministers of the EU member states, in developing a policy to strengthen the continent’s energy security.
“The recent attacks on Ukraine’s energy system are a very good indication for us in Europe of how important the stability of the energy system is for the vital activity of our countries. And we are pleased that we are learning from the leadership of Ukraine’s energy sector how to maintain energy system resilience,” Bush emphasized.
“We thank our international partners and Sweden itself for supporting Ukraine’s energy sector with equipment and contributions to the Energy Support Fund. We are assessing the consequences of the recent attacks and will soon compile a list of urgent needs for equipment to carry out restoration work,” Galushchenko said.
As reported by the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine in mid-December 2023, the total amount of sponsors’ commitments to the Energy Support Fund of Ukraine increased to EUR 390 million, with EUR 229 million actually transferred to the Fund’s grid from 18 public and private sector sponsors from different countries.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed Oleksiy Danilov from the post of Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) and appointed Oleksandr Lytvynenko to the position.
This decision was enshrined in Decrees 186/2024 and 188/2024 of March 26, 2023, respectively.
On the same day, the President signed Decree No. 187/2024 dismissing Oleksandr Lytvynenko as the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service and Decree No. 189/2024 appointing Oleh Ivashchenko as the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service.
Oleksandr Lytvynenko was appointed Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service on July 23, 2021. He worked as Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies (2019-2021), Deputy Secretary of State of the National Security and Defense Council (2014-2019).
Doctor of Political Science (2002), Professor (2011), Major General (2015).
Slavic Wallpaper – KFTB (formerly Koryukivka Technical Paper Factory, Chernihiv region), Ukraine’s leading wallpaper producer, produced 2.41 million conventional pieces of wallpaper in January-February, up 9.4% year-on-year.
According to statistics provided by Ukrpapir Association to Interfax-Ukraine, the company’s output growth rate slowed slightly in the first two months of the year, to 18.1% in January.
At the same time, in monetary terms, the plant’s production increased by 8.6% to UAH 205.5 million.
The EBA has no data on the production of wallpaper in Ukraine in January-February 2024, as the State Statistics Service has stopped providing it.
As reported, in 2023, the factory increased its wallpaper output by 19% compared to 2022 to 16.2 million units, while production increased by 38.2% to UAH 1 billion 249 million.
Earlier, the company noted that as a result of Russian aggression, sales volumes, especially through retail channels, had significantly decreased.
JSC Slavic Wallpaper-KFTB is one of the largest European wallpaper factories, producing more than 10 types of wallpaper from the economy segment (paper, duplex, acrylic) to premium wallpaper (vinyl, non-woven, hot stamped).
In addition, the factory produces its own latex, water-dispersion paint under the Latex brand.
Four EU countries – Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia – propose to Brussels to ban the import of waste and scrap ferrous metals, copper and aluminum from Russia.
Such a proposal was presented at a meeting of the European Union Environment Council held on March 25, the Lithuanian Environment Ministry said.
“Lithuania proposes that the European Commission assess all possibilities at EU level and make a proposal to suspend waste imports from Russia to the EU or allow Member States to adopt unilateral restrictive measures. We believe that such imports contribute to financing Russia’s war against Ukraine and should be stopped,” Lithuania’s deputy permanent representative to the EU, Ambassador Jurga Kasputene, said at the council meeting.
According to the Environment Ministry, more than 118 million euros worth of waste and scrap ferrous metals, copper and aluminum were imported from Russia to the EU in 2022-2023. Most of these imports go through Lithuania.
According to the ministry, cross-border transportation of waste is regulated by the Basel Convention and the Waste Transportation Regulation, so individual member states cannot unilaterally ban or restrict such imports.
ALUMINUM, BRUSSELS, COPPER, FERROUS METAL, IMPORTS, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SCRAP
In 2023, the largest alcohol producers increased their income tax payments by 1.7 times compared to 2022, and their income tax efficiency increased from 1.4% in 2022 to 2.0% in 2023, said Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy.
“Measures to de-shadow the alcoholic beverage market, despite the fierce resistance of black market areas (the so-called ‘business defenders’ and ‘sofa experts’), are yielding positive results in the form of budget revenues,” he wrote on Telegram.
The committee chairman named National Vodka Company LLC (Bayadera Group), LVN Limited LLC (TM Nemiroff), Lviv Distillery, and Shustov-Spirt ALC as the leaders in terms of tax efficiency.
According to him, Global Spirit Group has significantly improved its VAT tax efficiency from 3.5% in 2022 to 6.1% in 2023 and 9.4% in 2 months of 2024.
According to Mr. Hetmantsev, the largest alcohol producers have improved their performance not only in terms of income tax, but also in terms of VAT. For two months of this year, VAT payable has already been declared by 28.1% more than in the same period last year.
At the same time, the VAT tax efficiency increased to 6.2% in two months of 2024 from 4.9% in two months of 2023. At the same time, this figure increased by 5.2% compared to 2023.
Number of refugees from Ukraine in selected countries as of 31.01.2024
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
