It is proposed that the early elections of Kyiv mayor and deputies of Kyiv City Council be scheduled for December 8, 2019.
This is provided for in the final and transitional provisions of bill No. 2143 on amendments to the law on the capital of Ukraine, the hero city of Kyiv, which was registered by a group of MPs from the Servant of the People Party in parliament on September 13.
As reported, this bill proposes to legislate the functioning of district councils in Kyiv, reduce the maximum number of deputies of local councils to 84 people and authorize the head of Kyiv City State Administration to appeal against the acts of local governance in the capital.
Metinvest B.V. (the Netherlands), the parent company of Metinvest mining and metallurgical group, in January-June of this year reduced international sales by 7% compared to the same period last year, to $4.190 billion, providing 72% of consolidated revenue. According to preliminary unaudited interim financial results for the first half of 2019, sales in Ukraine fell by 3% during the reporting period, to $1.628 billion as a result of lower prices and sales of flat products amid a weaker demand from pipe producers, as well as lower coke sales volumes due to reduced production volumes. As a result, the share of Ukraine in consolidated revenue increased by 1 percentage point, to 28%.
The report notes that in the first half of 2019, sales to Europe fell by 2%, mainly due to lower prices for the sale of steel products. At the same time, the region’s share in consolidated revenue grew by 1 p.p., to 35%. Sales to the countries of the Middle East and North Africa were down by 22% against the background of a decrease in sales of semi-finished products and flat products, as well as lower sales prices for these goods. As a result, the region’s share in consolidated revenue decreased by 4 percentage points, to 17%.
Sales in the CIS countries fell by 6% due to lower sales prices and sales volumes of long products, while the region’s share in consolidated revenue remained at 7%. Sales in Southeast Asia grew by 66% due to growth in sales volumes of slabs, square billets and iron ore products. As a result, the share of this market in consolidated revenue increased by 3 p.p., to 7%.
The commodity group “equipment and electronics” in 2018 was the leader in smuggling deliveries to Ukraine and accounted for 21.4% of the total volume of smuggled deliveries to the country. This was reported by the economist of the independent analytical group of macroeconomists Ukraine Economic Outlook, Hryhoriy Kukuruza, during the round table in Kyiv. According to him, the smuggling of this group of goods in 2018 amounted to $1.3 billion, which is 31% of the total imports of these goods ($4.1 billion).
At the same time, according to the expert, the market of technical consumer goods in the second quarter of 2019 showed an increase of 15% and amounted to UAH 21 billion.
Representatives of household appliance retailers present at the round table noted that the government, first of all, needs to fight not against smuggling but with its sale within the country. In particular, in their opinion, it is necessary to pass a bill that will prohibit the sale of smuggled goods in Ukraine.
“The reason for smuggling is uncontrolled domestic trade within the country. The goods are sold – no one knows about it … Therefore, it is necessary to create conditions so that no one needs smuggling,” Hennadiy Verbylenko, the chairman of the supervisory board of Comfy, said.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said that the number of counterfeit hryvnia banknotes and their sum in H1 2019 fell by 26% and 20% respectively year-over-year.
As the regulator said on the website, most (99%) of banknotes withdrawn from circulation traditionally had four denominations: UAH 500 (50% counterfeit), UAH 100 (24%), UAH 200 (14%) and UAH 50 (11%), then as counterfeit banknotes with face values from UAH 1 to UAH 20 amounted to only 1%.
“Most often, the detected counterfeit banknotes came true through the cash desks of fast food, retail outlets and gas stations,” the regulator said.
The National Bank said that 93% of the seized counterfeit banknotes were made using inkjet printers, 6% by laser printers and using color copiers, 1% of counterfeit banknotes was made by printing.
The NBU said that in August, there was an increase in the withdrawal from circulation of counterfeit banknotes with a face value of UAH 500 printed in 2006, counterfeited using inkjet printing with imitation of ultraviolet protection. “There was the seizure of about 60 banknotes that were sold at the box office gas stations in different regions of the country (Kyiv city and region, Zakarpattia, Volyn, and Zhytomyr regions),” the National Bank said.
The Boryspil international airport (Kyiv) in January-August 2019 saw a 21.7% rise in passenger flow year-over-year, to 9.974 million people, the airport’s press service has told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the airport, 9.240 million passengers use international flights and 734,000 passengers used domestic flights.
In January-August 2019, 72,978 people were serviced for arrivals and departures that is 14.9% more over the same period in 2018, of which 64,049 travelled on international flights (16.8% rise) and 8,929 on domestic ones (2.9% rise).
In August 2019, the passenger flow of the airport amounted to 1.648 million people, which is 24.2% more than a year ago. The number of passengers serviced on international flights totaled 1.542 million people (25.8% rise) and 105,000 on domestic flights (5.1% rise).
Boryspil International Airport is the main airport of Ukraine, occupying a total area of about 1,000 ha. The airport has two runways: one with a length of 4,000 meters and a width of 60 meters, and the second with a length of 3,500 meters and a width of 63 meters. Four passenger terminals, postal and cargo handling complexes are located on the territory of the airport.
Cattle livestock in Ukraine (excluding the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea, Sevastopol, parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions) as of September 1, 2019 amounted to 3.67 million animals, which is 4.6% down on the same date in 2018, the State Statistics Service has reported. The number of cows by this date also decreased 4.6%, to 1.91 million head.
According to the State Statistics Service, the number of pigs as of September 1, 2019, fell by 2.6%, to 6.29 million animals, the number of sheep and goats declined by 3.1%, to 1.52 million animals compared to the same period of 2018.
The number of poultry in the country compared with September 1, 2018, increased 3.8%, to 254.79 million birds.
