The abolition of the third group of taxpayers using simplified taxation scheme proposed by lawmakers would result in the reduction of the pace of IT industry growth and the large outflow of IT specialists from the country, the IT Ukraine association has said on its website. “Along with the “active users” of the third group listed in the text of the bill, representatives of creative industries also use the simplified taxation scheme in this group… These are areas like advertising, architecture, design and fashion, visual and audio content production and information technologies. It is the latter area that is developing most dynamically in Ukraine today, and it is for it that the consequences that may come after the enactment of the bill will be extremely negative,” the association said.
The abolition of the third group of taxpayers using simplified taxation scheme will lead to a significant reduction in the pace of the financial growth of the industry and a reduction in the volume of currency income, IT Ukraine said.
According to IT Ukraine, if the fiscal policy is changed, the industry will be facing a significant slowdown in growth, and the state will fall short of billions of U.S. dollars in the country’s economy. According to the association, the initiative proposed by the lawmakers will result in a reduction in the number of jobs in the industry and an outflow of specialists from the country.
“The opportunity to work with specialists on the model of the third group allows the industry to create new jobs (this year it is planned to increase them by 20-25%) and provides sustainable development of the industry,” the association said.
The association also said that, looking to the current fiscal policy of neighbor states with a mature economy, Ukraine risks losing its last advantages, which hinder the outflow of high-quality specialists to more developed countries. The IT Ukraine association was established in April 2004 by Miratech, SoftLine, Mirasoft, ProFIX, Ukrsoft and SoftServe.
The united power grid of Ukraine today can accept up to 3 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity of solar power plants and wind farms without an unbalanced response risk and serious changes to its structure, Ukrenergo Head Vsevolod Kovalchuk said at a roundtable in the Verkhovna Rada. According to him, this installed capacity of renewable energy facilities can be put into operation in December 2019. At the same time, the volume of the technical conditions already issued for the connection of new renewable energy capacities to the power grid amounts to 7,426 MW (4,200 MW for wind farms and 3,226 MW for solar power plants).
Kovalchuk said that if these capacities are introduced, it will be necessary to reduce the base of the nuclear power plants (NPPs) by 5,750 MW and increase the base of the thermal power plants (TPPs) by 2,800 MW. At the same time, this is contrary to the policy of decarbonization, and the “green” electricity is times more expensive than the nuclear generated one.
“This will lead to a need for a proportional reduction in the basic capacity of NPPs and an increase in generation at TPPs to ensure the required reserves. This contradicts the world and national policy of energy decarbonization, and the risks of energy dependence are increasing,” Kovalchuk said.
Thus, to increase the share of renewable energy in the balance of energy the power-speed mobile reserve (natural gas-fired stations, pumped storage) with a capacity of up to 3,000 MW must be put into operation. This will increase the basic load of nuclear power plants and reduce the load of thermal power plants. The demand regulation system and introduction of the auxiliary services market will also help to balance the energy system at the initial stage of going “green”.
According to the head of Ukrenergo, math critical power values for solar power plants and wind farms, which can be introduced without risk of unbalancing Ukraine’s power grid, are being completed. “We have a little more than a year before the turning point left. The decision how to develop power in Ukraine, if the “green light” for the further development of generation from renewable energy is given, should be taken today at both the national level and the level of all energy companies,” Kovalchuk said.
Mriya agroholding is mulling the possibility of creating a separate seed business, which would allow not only covering the needs of the holding, but also planting and selling own seeds to other companies, the company has said in a press release. “The work in this field has already begun: the seed factory of the company in Khorostkiv, starting from last year, provides services of bringing the seed material to the sowing conditions (cleaning and calibration) for companies engaged in the sale of seeds,” the agroholding said.
The capacity of the seed plant reaches 300 tonnes of grain seeds per day. It is equipped with two parallel lines and ensures the quality of seeds of more than 99% in terms of the purity of the material.
Mriya is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding founded in 1992 by the Huta family. Today, its land bank is 180,000 ha in Ternopil, Khmelnytsky, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Lviv and Rivne regions.
Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP) could acquire the French poultry producer Doux Group, the French edition Challenge’s has reported. According to the publication, the holding on March 9, 2018 filed documents to the industry restructuring committee of France (ComitЁ¦ InterministЁ¦riel de Restructuration Industrielle) for the restoration of Doux Group suffering economic difficulties. The committee does not make any decisions. At the same time, it contributes to the development of the best plan for the rehabilitation of enterprises, as well as search for buyers.
According to the edition, MHP estimates the amount of required investments to restore the group at EUR150 million, while requiring that at least EUR70 million be compensated at the expense of state subsidies.
In addition, the MHP plan offers the reduction of up to 550 jobs.
According to the website of Doux, the group’s enterprises employ more than 2,300 people. At the same time, it says at present the number of workers is about 1,200.
Epicenter K and Nova Linia, the networks of construction materials hypermarkets, part of Epicenter group of companies, occupy a leading position in the retail construction materials market in Kyiv and Kyiv region.
According to an annual report from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC) for 2017, the share of the Epicenter K trading network in the market of Kyiv is 53%, that of Nova Linia some 1.6%. The French network Leroy Merlin ranks second in the capital with 9.3%.
Epicenter also dominates in Kyiv region: the share of Epicenter K is 29.3%, that of Nova Linia some 29.8%.
“Despite the significant number of players in this regional market, market power [in 2017] belonged to one economic entity Epicenter K LLC and Nova Linia LLC. The availability of market power does not violate the legislation on protection of economic competition. The committee has not revealed any signs of violations in the actions [of Epicenter],” the AMC report says.
As reported, Epicenter acquired the Nova Linia network of construction hypermarkets in October 2013.
Epicenter K LLC was established in 2003. Its first hypermarket opened in Kyiv in December 2003.
