A first tranche of the macro-financial assistance of the European Union (EU) will arrive in Ukraine this year, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said. “Of course, we are speaking about this year,” the minister said in Kyiv on Wednesday, asked about the terms of the first disbursement of the EU’s macro-financial assistance. He recalled that in coming days a memorandum of understanding under the programme, foreseeing in particular the conditions for the provision of a loan, will be signed. Klimkin declined to specify the details.
As reported, Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the Euro, Social Dialogue, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union Valdis Dombrovskis on September 13-14 will visit Ukraine, where he will take part in signing a memorandum of understanding, in which the terms of the fourth EU macro-financial assistance programme for Ukraine (MFA IV) for EUR1 billion will be fixed.
According to materials published by the EU early July 2018, the proposed MFA would be made available for two and a half years, starting from the first day after the entry into force of the memorandum of understanding. In addition, the planned size of the two tranches is to be outlined in the document.
Since May 2014 Ukraine has received EUR 2.81 billion of macro-financial assistance from the EU. The third tranche of EUR 600 million under the MFA was annulled on January 18, 2018, as the country failed to meet the conditions.
Following its technical mission of November 2017, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised its estimates of Ukraine’s external financing needs, identifying an additional gap of $4.5 billion for 2018 and 2019.
Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalik has said that the Cabinet of Ministers will consider the draft state budget for 2019 at a meeting on September 14. “We will adopt[the draft state budget for 2019 at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers tentatively on Friday,” he told reporters after a government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Earlier, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said that the Cabinet of Ministers would submit the draft state budget for 2019 to the Verkhovna Rada on time, before September 15.
The Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine has reviewed upwards the 2018 grain harvest forecast from over 60 million tonnes to 63.1 million tonnes, which is 1.1 million tonnes more than in the previous agricultural year, acting Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Maksym Martyniuk wrote on his Facebook page. “A group of late grain crops will contribute to the growth. Weather conditions were far from optimal, but losses were fragmentary, and as a result we have a decent ratio of bread wheat/coarse grains at 60/40,” he said.
The head of the agrarian ministry added that the export forecast was also increased, to 42 million tonnes.
“It is good news. The situation in the world (poor harvests in supplying countries, rising prices) raises its status to” magnificent,” Martyniuk said.
He also said that if the field works started late spring, the sowing campaign began almost a week earlier: as of September 10, 237,100 hectares were sown with grain, which is 3% of the forecast.
“Rain is a bonus,” the acting minister said.
According to the ministry, as of September 10, the harvest of grain and leguminous crops amounted to 35.4 million tonnes from 10.1 million hectares, or 68% of the forecast. These include early cereals: 34.3 million tonnes were harvested from an area of 9.9 million hectares, and 0.82 million tonnes of corn was harvested from 147,000 hectares (3% of the forecast).
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Municipal enterprise Kyiv Metropoliten, which ordered the contraction of the subway line running to the Vynohradar residential area in Kyiv, has announced the repeated tender. According to the information in the ProZorro e-procurement system, the expected cost of works is UAH 5.994 billion. Bids can be submitted before October 11 inclusively. The bids will be opened on November 16. The bid security is UAH 1 million (at the previous tender it was UAH 29.9 million). The minimum decrement is 0.5% (UAH 29.9 million).
In addition, during the new tender the only criterion for selecting the winner is the price, while at the previous tender the term of work delivery was taken into account by 25%.
As reported, on September 5, 2018, Kyiv Metropoliten cancelled a tender for constructing a new subway line to the Vynohradar residential area. One of the bidders, PJSC Kyivmetrobud failed to provide a bank guarantee in time for participating in the auction. Kyiv Metropoliten rejected the offer of another participant, LLC Adamant Construction Company (Adamant), citing the company’s failure to provide reliable tender documents. Adamant filed a complaint with the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine leading to the cancellation of the auction.
Kyiv Metropoliten in January 2018 announced a tender to build the Syretsko-Pecherska subway line from the Syrets station to the Vynohradar residential in Kyiv’s Podilsky District to the tune of UAH 6.3 billion. The date of the tender was repeatedly postponed. The expected cost of work at the last auction fell to UAH 5.99 billion.
Kyiv City State Administration approved the subway line construction blueprints in July 2018.
The new section of the subway line will consist of two stations – Mostytska and Prospekt Pravdy, as well as a section in the direction to the Vynohradar station. It is estimated that construction work will take 36 months.
