Ukraine has simplified the opening of international bus routes with the Czech Republic, exempting carriers from the need to confirm the presence of a parity partner from a neighboring country, the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure (MinRestore) has announced.
According to the report, the period for coordinating the route and issuing a permit will not exceed four months. Communication channels have been established between the countries specifically for the opening of routes.
The relevant changes were agreed upon at a meeting of the joint commission between the Ministry of Reconstruction and the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic.
“The growing demand for bus transportation requires the state to ensure an effective process of opening new routes so that the market can quickly respond to passenger demand. The Czech Republic is one of the most popular countries in terms of bus service, so together with our Czech colleagues we have simplified the procedure for opening routes,” Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure Serhiy Derkach said in a statement.
He expressed hope that the decision would help improve transport accessibility, increase passenger traffic and help boost business.
The report indicates that the Czech Republic became the first country with which Ukraine ensured full compliance of regular bus routes.
This year, agreements on non-parity passenger transportation were also signed with Slovakia.
In July 2024, the international depository Euroclear will make the first contribution of approximately EUR1.55 billion to the European fund for Ukraine, according to the company’s report.
In the first half of 2024, Euroclear received EUR3.4 billion in interest income from investing blocked Russian assets.
In 2023, these revenues amounted to about EUR4.4 billion, in 2022 – EUR821 million.
Euroclear’s total interest income in January-June this year amounted to EUR4 billion.
The company will also pay taxes on income received from Russian assets in January-June in the amount of EUR836 million.
Thus, Euroclear’s net profit attributable to the frozen assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation amounted to EUR760 million in the first half of the year.
Euroclear’s balance sheet as of the end of June 2024 amounted to EUR207 billion, of which EUR173 billion are attributable to Russian assets under sanctions.
Effective February 15, 2024, the EU Council adopted a Regulation requiring central securities depositories that hold reserves and assets of the Bank of Russia to apply special rules to cash balances accumulated due to restrictive measures. These CSDs, including Euroclear, must account for and manage such extraordinary cash balances separately from other activities, must retain net income separately, and must not dispose of the net income (e.g., as dividends to shareholders).
Euroclear’s underlying net profit, which excludes income from the blocked Russian assets, increased by 7% year-on-year in January-June to EUR602 million.
Underlying operating income increased by 5% to EUR1.45 billion.
In particular, revenues from core activities amounted to EUR865 million compared to EUR838 million a year earlier, while interest, banking and other income increased to EUR586 million from EUR539 million.
In January-June 2024, Trypillia Packaging Plant (TUP, Ukrainka, Kyiv region), a subsidiary of the shutdown Rubizhne Cardboard and Packaging Plant in Luhansk region, increased its corrugated packaging output by 22.3% compared to the same period in 2023, to almost 80 million square meters.
According to statistics provided to Interfax-Ukraine by Ukrpapir Association, the plant is now the second largest producer of corrugated packaging after Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill (109.7 million square meters).
Including in June, TUK increased its corrugated packaging production by 19% year-on-year, but reduced it by 11.7% year-on-year to 12.5 million square meters.
In monetary terms, TUK’s production increased by 11.2% to UAH 1 billion 320 million in the first half of the year.
The major companies in the industry, which provided data to Ukrpapir, increased production of cardboard boxes by 19.4% to 283.3 million square meters during this period.
As reported, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Rubizhne Pulp and Paper Mill together with TUK were the market leaders in the corrugated packaging market in Ukraine.
After the destruction, the plant in Rubizhne shut down, and the legal entity Rubizhne CTC was re-registered in Kyiv.
TUC produces a wide range of corrugated cardboard products for food, industrial goods, and chemicals.
Among its customers are Roshen, Coca-Cola, MHP agricultural holding, and Lactalis Group.
In 2023, the plant increased its commercial output by 13.7% compared to 2022, to UAH 2 billion 480 million, while corrugated packaging production increased by 18% to 145.8 million square meters.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in the bill on raising taxes by 138.7 billion hryvnias this year, among other things, proposes to reduce the threshold of duty-free import of parcels from abroad from EUR150 to EUR45, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. According to the explanatory note to the bill, goods whose total invoice value does not exceed the equivalent of EUR45 for one recipient will not be taxed, compared to the current norm of EUR150.
It is noted that the goods must be transferred without any payment, intended for personal or family use, and their characteristics and quantity must not indicate that they are imported for any commercial purpose.
At the same time, the above criteria do not apply to excisable goods, perfume in the volume of more than 50 ml or toilet water in the volume of more than 0.25 liters or eight ounces, coffee in the volume of more than 0.5 kg or coffee extracts and essences in the volume of more than 200 g; tea in the volume of more than 100 g or tea extracts and essences in the volume of more than 40 g. If when imported into the customs territory of Ukraine the volume of the above-mentioned goods exceeds the specified, the duty-free threshold does not apply to them.
According to the table published by the head of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy Daniil Hetmantsev, the expected additional revenues from the reduction of duty-free threshold for import of goods from abroad will amount to UAH 3.3 billion this year and UAH 8 billion next year.
Geographical structure of Ukraine’s foreign trade (surplus) in Jan-Apr 2024, mln USD
Source: Open4Business.com.ua
PJSC Ukrnafta has started implementing the standards of The American Petroleum Institute in its operations, the company said in a press release on Thursday.
“Until 2023, the company was guided by outdated, Soviet-era standards of work. Accordingly, this affected absolutely all business and technological processes and did not allow us to develop at the desired pace. This is now changing,” the document explains.
In particular, the company signed a memorandum with The American Petroleum Institute and started purchasing modern equipment for production, service and stimulation – this year alone, modern pumps from German Oil Dynamics, American Baker Hughes and Alkhorayef Petroleum from Saudi Arabia will be installed in 150 wells of the company.
“However, the most important thing, the basis of all processes, is the implementation of standards, because these are the rules and regulations that the industry operates under throughout the civilized world. The first important step in this direction has already been taken: an agreement has been signed with The American Petroleum Institute to obtain and translate industry standards,” the company said.
Initially, 314 API standards have been identified, 20 of which relate to drilling, exploration, production and stimulation, and their translation has already been received and started.
The American Petroleum Institute has been defining and maintaining standards for the global oil and gas industry since 1924. These are work rules based on a century of experience and modern trends that improve safety, reduce costs, reduce waste and ensure the quality of the final product,” the company explained.
Ukrnafta added that these will be the first API standards available in Ukrainian.
“Ukrnafta is Ukraine’s largest oil producer and operator of a national network of filling stations. In March 2024, the company took over the management of Glusco’s assets and operates a total of 545 filling stations – 460 owned and 85 managed.
The company is implementing a comprehensive program to restore operations and update the format of its filling stations. Since February 2023, Ukrnafta has been issuing its own fuel coupons and NAFTAKarta cards, which are sold to legal entities and individuals through Ukrnafta-Postach LLC.
Ukrnafta’s largest shareholder is Naftogaz of Ukraine with a 50%+1 share. In November 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to transfer to the state a share of corporate rights of the company, which belonged to private owners and is currently managed by the Ministry of Defense.
