The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has relaxed the rules of buying foreign currency by nonresidents to return foreign investment abroad after transactions with government domestic loan bonds, the central bank has reported on its website. The respective initiative was approved by resolution No. 100 of the central bank’s board amending certain legal acts of the NBU dated September 18, 2018. The document came into force on September 20, with the exception of certain clauses, which will become effective on November 1, 2018. “Nonresidents for the purchase of foreign currency after operations with government bonds will need to submit the short list of documents as possible,” the NBU said in the report.
In particular, the resolution specifies the rules of settlements under operations with government domestic loan bonds, where a nonresident is a party: transactions with banks and nonresidents can be carried out without restrictions, operations with other counterparties can be carried out only on the stock exchange with settlements using the “delivery of securities against payment” principle.
In addition, the rules of servicing the operations on the government domestic loan bonds placement among the clients of primary dealers (broker contracts) are defined, which provides access to the primary government domestic loan bonds market for private investors.
The mechanism for servicing refinancing operations with a pool of assets as collateral has also been regulated. The procedure for conducting blocking operations for government domestic loan bonds under these transactions has been determined, and the NBU is given the opportunity to take into account the securities of banks that are deposited as collateral in favor of the central bank.
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Volia provider (Kyiv) expects that ARPU (average revenue per user per month) will increase by 25% in 2018 compared with 2017, to UAH 137, Volia CEO Gyorgy Zsembery has told Interfax-Ukraine. “Thanks to our focus on high-margin subscribers, this year I expect ARPU to be UAH 137. ARPU growth is expected to be 25% by the end of the year,” he said, not disclosing the company’s revenue forecasts.
Zsembery also said that the company plans to increase the share of interactive TV users in the total number of TV subscribers to 20% by the end of this year. At the end of the first half of the year, their share in the company was 16%.
According to him, over the past five years, Volia has invested UAH 2 billion in technology and content.
“This has worked. In the years when the market did not grow at all, we always had revenue growth – at least 10% starting from 2015. We believe in the Ukrainian market, so we will continue investing in those areas in which we are strong and competitive – into our digital content and telecommunications network,” he said.
Volia services around 2 million cable TV and Internet subscribers in 34 cities and towns of Ukraine. It is managed by Providence Equity Partners (34.92%), private international investment company SigmaBleyzer (15.3%) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD, 11.7%).
Ukraine’s Economic Development and Trade Ministry has placed Zakhid Resurs industrial park (Horodok, Lviv region) and Ternopil industrial park in the register of industrial parks, becoming 32nd and 33rd parks in the register.
According to information on the ministry’s website, parks are registered by orders of the ministry dated September 19, 2018.
The initiator of the creation of the Zakhid Resurs industrial park on the land parcel of 20.7662 hectares is Euro-Invest-Holding LLC (Horodok, Lviv region). The stated term of the park’s functioning is 30 years.
The purpose of the park is to form a single territory with a well-equipped infrastructure for the placement of new economic enterprises in the processing industry, innovation, logistics and provision of related services, and increase the competitiveness of the region.
Priority for placement will be the production of food and nonalcoholic beverages, storage and processing of crop and livestock products; textile production, production of clothing, leather, fabric and leather products and other materials; wood processing and the manufacture of products from it; machine building, instrument making, production of electrical equipment, electronic and optical equipment; logistical services.
According to preliminary calculations, up to 1,625 new jobs can be created on the territory of the industrial park.
The owner of 100% of Euro-Invest-Holding LLC is Serhiy Badiak registered in Lviv.
The Ternopil industrial park, initiated by the Ternopil City Council, has a land area of 15 hectares.
The main goal of its creation, in particular, is to ensure the sustainable economic development of Ternopil by restoring the industrial potential of the city.
The stated period of operation is 30 years.
The functional purpose of the park is processing industry (primary and secondary processing of agricultural raw materials, production of food products, baby food); professional scientific and technical activities (research activities to improve product quality and use of new technologies, IT cluster).
Up to 1,100 new jobs can be created in the park.
Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry is interested in liberalizing air transportation between Ukraine and the United States.
This was announced by Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan at a meeting with the U.S. Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy Derek Kan, the U.S. Transportation Department’s International Aviation Director Brian Hedberg and Deputy Executive Director for the Office of International Affairs in the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) David Burkholder as part of a working visit to the United States.
“We are ready to develop passenger air transportation with the countries and are interested in facilitating the implementation of the agreement between Ukraine and the United States on air communication. We will sincerely welcome the expansion of the presence of American airlines in Ukraine,” the Infrastructure Ministry’s press service quoted Omelyan as saying.
According to the press release, Omelyan said Ukraine is interested in attracting U.S. experience in the development of digital infrastructure. He discussed with his American counterparts the policy of Ukraine in the field of anti-corruption.
As reported, the Infrastructure Ministry has predicted the signing of an agreement on the Common Aviation Area (CAA) with the EU during spring 2019.
The accession of Ukraine to the common aviation space with the EU is an important step for the development of the country’s aviation industry. Liberalization of airspace, first of all, will attract new airlines to Ukraine, and then increase competition in the market, which will make air transportation much more affordable.
In accordance with the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, civil aviation is regulated by a separate agreement – Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP), which was initiated in 2013, but not yet signed. The signing of the agreement on SAP was postponed twice on the initiative of the EU side. The main reason for the delay is the lack of consensus between Spain and the UK on the wording on the territorial application of the agreement in part of Gibraltar.
In addition, Ukraine should bring the country’s aviation regulations in line with EU airspace legislation.
