Growth of Ukraine’s GDP in July-September 2018 was 2.8% year-over-year, which equals to the preliminary assessment by the State Statistics Service of Ukraine published in the middle of November.
Capital investment in the agricultural and industrial sector in January-September 2018 totaled over UAH 60 billion, including UAH 45 billion in agriculture, which is 38% more than a year ago, Deputy Agricultural Policy and Food Minister of Ukraine Olha Kovaleva said at a press conference.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has once again revised its expectations for Ukraine’s GDP growth for the current year, downgrading the forecast to 3.3% from 3.5%.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that he had signed the law on the state budget of Ukraine for 2019.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted as a basis and in general law No. 9369 with technical and legal amendments to the national budget for 2018.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-October 2018 increased by 66.6% compared with January-October 2017 and amounted to $7.95 billion, the State Statistics Service has reported.
The rise in consumer prices in Ukraine in November 2018 slowed down to 1.4% from 1.7% in October and 1.9% in November and since the beginning of the year has reached 8.9%, the State Statistics Service has reported.
Industrial prices in Ukraine in November 2018 increased by 1.7% after a 0.3% growth in October, 1.2% in September, and 1.3% in August, the State Statistics Service has said.
The national budget of Ukraine for January-November 2018 saw a deficit of UAH 183.6 million, while the ceiling level approved by the law on the national budget is UAH 80.6 billion, the Ministry of Finance has reported.
Ukraine has received the first tranche under the new Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the amount of SDR 1 billion (around $1.4 billion), which boosted the country’s forex reserves to $20.1 billion as of December 21, 2018.
The deficit of the national budget of Ukraine in January-October 2018 was UAH 6.17 billion with the ceiling approved in the law on the national budget being UAH 80.6 billion, while in October its surplus was UAH 1.14 billion, the State Treasury Service has said.
Money supply in Ukraine in November 2018 fell by 1.3%, to UAH 1.229 trillion, according to the respective preliminary data of monetary statistics published on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
Ukraine’s gross external debt in the third quarter of 2018 grew by $985 million, or 0.87%, to $114.742 billion, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said on its website.
Industrial production in Ukraine in November 2018 compared with November 2017 decreased by 0.9% after rising in October by 1.4%, the State Statistics Service has reported.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has passed a bill amending the national budget for 2018, which cuts the financing of three programs to support agriculture by UAH 2.079 billion, to UAH 4.232 billion.
Customs offices as of December 20, 2018 cleared 6,500 cars with foreign license plates imported into Ukraine since 2015 until the day when the new customs clearance rules took effect in the country, the State Fiscal Service reported on its website.
Retail trade turnover in Ukraine in January-November 2018 in comparable prices increased by 6.2% compared with January-November 2017, the State Statistics Service has reported.
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Ukraine’s international reserves grew by 10.6% in 2018, to $20.8 billion, and in December 2018 the growth was 17.5%, according to tentative data posted on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). “It was possible to increase international reserves, primarily thanks to the external financing received by Ukraine and the purchase of excess currency in the interbank market by the NBU,” the NBU said in a statement.
As the central bank said, for most of 2018, the currency supply in the interbank market prevailed over demand.
In particular, in the first half of the year, a high level of supply was ensured by a favorable external pricing environment for Ukrainian exports and the revival of investor interest in emerging markets. In the second half of the year, a surplus of currency was recorded thanks to the export earnings for a record grain harvest and other agricultural products, the regulator said. At the same time, the NBU said that in 2018, the net purchase of currency in the interbank foreign exchange market by the NBU provided replenishment of reserves by $1.4 billion.
The primary registration of commercial vehicles in Ukraine (new and used ones) in 2018 grew by 20% compared with 2017, to 51,500 vehicles, the Ukrautoprom association has reported. The association said that the share of new vehicles was only 25% of primary registrations of commercial vehicles: demand in the segment grew only by 10%, to 12,700 units, while registrations of imported used vehicles rose almost by 25%, to 38,800.
Renault became the leader in new vehicle registrations last year, with 2,429 license plates being issued – 13% more than the year before, Fiat ranked second: 1,327 registrations and an increase of 13%.
Mercedes-Benz closed the top three leaders: 1,047 new vehicles were sold (a rise of 28%).
Renault is leading in the segment of used imported cars: for the year, 9,407 vehicles received Ukrainian registration, which is 30% higher than last year.
The second most popular brand was Volkswagen, which registered 4,941 vehicles (15% more).
Mercedes-Benz is in third place, as in the market for new vehicles, with 4,911 units (a rise of 22%).
Private joint-stock company United Mining-Chemical Company, managing Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (Dnipropetrovsk region) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Combine (Zhytomyr region), invested large sums in the development of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine in 2017-2018.
According to a press release of the company at the end of 2018, referring to acting Board Chairman Oleksandr Hladushko, starting from 2017, the company acquired 46 units of equipment for the Vilnohirsk combine – modern BELL dump trucks, which significantly supplemented the existing fleet, as well as JCB loaders, which will be used not only in the quarry, but also in repairs and loading finished products, a MAZ vehicle to move repair crews, cars, as well as the heavy trailer, which will allow to quickly carry bulldozers and other heavy equipment.
According to him, the company spent about UAH 300 million on these acquisitions, of which more than UAH 195 million were paid for the new BELL dump trucks.
In addition to acquiring new equipment, the company invested heavily in the repair of the existing one.
According to Deputy Chief Mechanic for transport, the head of the section for the repair of transport, Oleksiy Belousov, thanks to the gross restoration of dump trucks, the company has 21 operating BelAZ vehicles today. The company spent more than UAH 11 million on the restoration of old BelAZ vehicles.
The Vilnohirsk combine’s overburden complexes received significant investments – this year alone, more than UAH 50 million were spent on restoring their working capacity, Hladushko said.
In 2018, several significant upgrades were also made at the combine’s concentrator. This technological solution has significantly reduced grinding losses and increased extraction of the useful component to 99%.
Processing division upgraded its assets for the amount of over UAH 20 million.
In 2018, investments into the Vilnohirsk combine were sent to the renewal of assets, overhauls, and the commissioning of the stripping and mining equipment of the enterprise.
“With updating the fixed assets of the Vilnohirsk branch, we expected a certain result – to maintain a high level of efficiency and competitiveness of the enterprise, which will allow us to look confidently into the future,” Hladushko said.
According to him, in 2019, investments in the development of the main divisions of the plant, in particular the quarry, will continue.
INVESTS, MINING METALLURGICAL COMBINE, MINING-CHEMICAL COMPANY, VILNOHIRSK
