Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has passed bill No. 5495 about preserving Ukrainian forests and preventing illegal imports of rough timber with remarks of the Ukrainian president. The bill introduces severe punishment for smuggling of round timber and restricting domestic consumption of rough timber to 25 million cubic meters a year. A total of 246 lawmakers backed the bill with the president’s remarks, removing the clause about firewood export ban.
Head of the parliamentary committee for industrial policy and entrepreneurship Viktor Halasiuk said that the parliament must return to the issue and find a possibility of retaining the ban on exports of firewood, under the disguise of which round timber is exported from Ukraine.
As was earlier reported, on July 3, 234 deputies passed the bill (No. 5495) on making amendments to some laws of Ukraine concerning the preservation of Ukrainian forests and preventing the illegal export of unprocessed timber at second reading.
According to amendments taken into account in the second reading of the document, administrative and criminal liability for illegal logging and its timber exports outside customs control (smuggling) has been significantly strengthened.
The Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, in particular, introduces a clause according to which illegal cutting and transportation, storage of illegally cut trees entail the imposition on citizens of a fine of 15 to 30 nontaxable minimum incomes of citizens (one nontaxable minimum – UAH 17), and on officials – from 75 to 150 nontaxable minimum incomes of citizens.
In case of a repeated offense within a year, the amount of the fine is from 30 to 60 nontaxable minimums for citizens and from 300 to 600 for officials.
In addition, according to changes in Ukraine’s Criminal Code, movement across the customs border of Ukraine outside the customs control or concealment from the uncontrolled control of unprocessed timber or sawn valuable or rare species is punishable by imprisonment for three to five years.
The same actions that have been committed repeatedly or by prior conspiracy by a group of persons or an official using his official position are punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to ten years, with deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions and with confiscation of property.
If these actions are committed by an organized group of individuals or on a particularly large scale, a penalty of imprisonment of ten to 12 years is provided, with deprivation of the right to engage in certain activities for three years and with confiscation of property.
Late July Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko vetoed the bill and returned it to the parliament with his proposals.
The mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Ron van Rooden started working in Kyiv on Thursday, the IMF representative office in Ukraine has told Interfax-Ukraine. The IMF representative office said that the mission arrived in Kyiv the day before.
As IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine Goesta Ljungman reported in the middle of August, the IMF mission will visit Kyiv during September 6-19, 2018, to discuss recent economic developments and policies.
Ljungman also said that the mission will also discuss next steps, including financial assistance from the IMF in support of policies to maintain macroeconomic stability and keep the economy on a path toward sustainable and inclusive growth.
Ukraine’s Acting Finance Minister Oksana Markarova said that Ukraine plans to discuss all current issues with the IMF and continuation of cooperation after the completion of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) in March 2019.
According to her, the successful fourth review of the IMF EFF and the receipt of the fifth tranche of $2 billion will open the way to attract financing to the national budget on preferential terms, using the World Bank’s guarantee for$ 800 million, as well as receiving macro-financial assistance from the EU for EUR 1 billion.
In turn, NBU Governor Yakiv Smolii said that approaching the prospect of receiving financing from the IMF will have a positive impact on the state of the currency market of Ukraine and will also improve the government’s ability to borrow on the international capital markets.
“The arrival of the IMF mission to Kyiv is a step towards reducing uncertainty regarding the further development of the situation in the Ukrainian economy and improving the expectations of market participants,” the head of the NBU said in the middle of August.
As reported, the four-year-EFF program worth SDR 12.348 billion (about $17.46 billion at the current forex rate) was launched in March 2015 with a first disbursement of $5 billion. It originally suggested a quarterly review of the program, the allocation of three more tranches worth SDR 1.18 billion each in 2015 and a reduction in quarterly disbursements in 2016-2018 to SDR 0.44 billion ($0.61 billion).
Under the ongoing program, Ukraine has managed to receive a second tranche worth $1.7 billion early in August 2015 with a little delay, which was followed by a long break as Ukraine had failed to meet a number of conditions, which was aggravated by the political crisis and government reshuffles.
Talks on further financing resumed after the appointment of a new Cabinet of Ministers headed by Volodymyr Groysman in April 2016. However, the IMF decided to issue a third disbursement worth $1 billion only in the middle of September 2016 and a fourth one on April 3, 2017.
Since July 2017 Ukraine has been in a complicated negotiating process with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the gas issue. The IMF insists on raising the price of gas for the population, which, according to various estimates, may range from 30% to 60% due to rising prices in international markets, while the prime minister had previously pointed out the irrationality of such a sharp increase.
A government source said that during this period Ukraine offered the IMF at least eight options of changing the formula for gas prices, based on observance of the principles agreed upon with the IMF.
The Fund’s position is quite tough, as the government last year decided to raise gas prices that allowed Ukraine to receive a tranche from the IMF, but subsequently unilaterally refused to implement it.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on June 19, 2018 said that the implementation of the actions related to gas prices is critical to allow the completion of the pending review under Ukraine’s IMF-supported program.
She said that another action is critical: observing the upper limit for the budget deficit.
Ukraine in January-August 2018 exported electricity worth $213.38 million, including $27.254 million in August alone. Hungary bought electricity worth $127.415 million, Poland $49.233 million, Moldova $31.397 million, other countries $5.335 million, Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service has said. Exports of Ukrainian electricity in monetary terms in January-August 2018 increased by 21.1% compared to the same period in 2017 ($176.241 million).
Over the period under review, Ukraine imported electricity worth $1.056 million, in particular, electricity imports from the Russian Federation were estimated at $1.005 million, from Belarus at $0.046 million, from Moldova at $0.006 million.
As reported, Ukraine plans in 2018 to increase exports of electricity to the EU and Moldova by 13.3% from 2017 to 5.855 billion kWh. According to the forecast for 2018, deliveries from the Burshtyn TPP energy island to Hungary, Slovakia, Romania will be 3.6 billion kWh, to Poland 1.2 billion kWh, and to Moldova 1.055 billion kWh.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Turkish Airlines from September 25, 2018 will increase the frequency of Odesa-Istanbul flights by three, to 21 times a week.
According to the airline’s press release, flights will be operated according to the following schedule: daily departure from Istanbul at 07:55 and 19:10, from Odesa at 10:25 and 21:35; on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays with departure from Istanbul at 00:50 and from Odesa at 3:20; and also on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays with departure from Istanbul at 13:10 and from Odesa at 15:40 local time.
As reported, Turkish Airlines in 2017 served more than 600,000 passengers on its own flights to/from Ukraine, which is 18% more than in 2016.
The flight schedule of Turkish Airlines in Ukraine covers Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Kharkiv.
Turkish Airlines (Türk Hava Yolları, THY) was established in 1933 with a fleet of five aircraft. For today has an air fleet of 329 passenger and cargo aircraft.
