Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the law introducing amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and some laws of Ukraine on stimulating the creation and operation of family farms, which allows citizens living and working on their land to obtain the official status of farmers, sell their products and get social protection and the right to a pension. A statement posted on the president’s website on Friday says the document amends the Tax Code and the laws of Ukraine on farming, on state support for agriculture in Ukraine, on the collection and accounting of a single contribution to compulsory state social insurance, and on state registration of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and public organizations.
According to the changes in the law, the entrepreneurs who organized the farms belong to the payers of the single tax of the fourth group of individual entrepreneurs. The law foresees the provision of state aid to pay a single contribution to compulsory state social insurance (from 10% to 90% of the minimum insurance payment) for each member of the farm for ten years at the expense of the state budget of Ukraine through the mechanism of additional payment in favor of insured members of a family farm of a single contribution to state social insurance. The document also clarifies a number of clauses on the establishment and operation of a family farm without acquiring the status of a legal entity. The implementation of the law will help create conditions for the creation of family farms and bringing entrepreneurial activity in the agrarian sphere out of the shadows, which will positively influence the growth of revenues to local budgets from the payment of taxes and creation of new jobs in rural areas.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada on July 10 adopted at second reading, with technical and legal amendments, draft law No. 6490-d introducing amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and some laws of Ukraine on stimulating the creation and operation of family farms.
The European Union views the adoption of legislation to create a High Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine as a positive event that meets its international obligations and the interests of Ukrainian citizens and enterprises, the official spokesperson of the European External Action Service has said. “Ukraine’s adoption of the legislation with a view to establishing a High Anti-Corruption Court is a positive development in accordance with its international obligations and to the benefit of Ukrainian citizens and businesses. The establishment marks a significant step in the crucial fight against corruption in Ukraine which is a key component of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and follows the commitments taken by Ukraine during the EU-Ukraine Summit in Brussels on July 9,” a report on the agency’s website reads.
“Once established, the High Anti-Corruption Court will complete the chain of independent anti-corruption institutions that also includes the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. The EU underlines the need for all anti-corruption institutions to be fully independent and carry out their tasks free from undue influence. To this end, it is important that the integrity and credibility of the Office of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor and its leadership are upheld and reinforced,” it says. “We look forward to the court being fully operational before the end of the year as this is the intention of the authorities. What counts now, what will support the country and its people to fight against corruption will be the full implementation of this act. The European Union stands ready to support the process,” the document states.
ANTI-CORRUPTION COURT, EUROPEAN UNION, FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
Kyivkomunservis has announced a tender to determine an executor of services for processing and burial of household waste in the capital, the press service of Kyiv City State Administration has said. According to the tender documentation on the website of the company, the minimum capacity of the processing enterprise should be 426,000 tonnes, while the annual volume of household waste produced in Kyiv is 1.2 million tonnes. The new waste processing plant should be located near the geographical center of the capital.
Participants in the tender should have experience in creating and operating waste recycling facilities. The winner of the tender will be obliged to provide waste treatment services for at least 25 years from the time the facility is put into operation. According to the administration, applications for participation in the competition will be accepted from August 28, 2018.
The first stage of the tender is the assessment of contestants’ complying with the qualifying conditions, it will begin in late September. The second stage involves evaluating proposals from participants in the competition. As reported, with reference to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the new waste processing plant in the capital is to be built within the next two or three years.
General Electric experts will recommend the management of Ukrzaliznytsia Melitopol locomotive depot of the regional branch Prydniprovska Railways as the main base for servicing GE locomotives. The GE employees made such conclusions after the examination and inspection of the depot, Ukrzaliznytsia reported on its website. “The General Electric representatives believe that Melitopol locomotive depot maximally meets the requirements of the company for the center for servicing TE33AC Trident diesel locomotives built for Ukraine,” the report says. During a visit to Melitopol depot, the General Electric representatives inspected the production facilities of the depots, familiarized with the technical equipment and capabilities of the structural unit, its personnel potential.
They also discussed a number of issues that need to be resolved: the allocation of individual warehouse and office space, the determination of the number of personnel for carrying out repairs and technical maintenance of traction rolling stock, employee training, the details of material and technical support, and so on.
As reported, in the beginning of August General Electric Transportation sent the first of 30 GE TE33AC locomotives to Ukraine. The framework agreement between Ukrzaliznytsia and GE envisages a 15-year partnership in updating and modernizing traction rolling stock, the first stage of which is the delivery to Ukrzaliznytsia under the terms of leasing of 30 new GE TE33AC diesel locomotives with a localization level of 10%.
EXPERTS, GENERAL ELECTRIC, LOCOMOTIVES, MAIN SERVICE, MELITOPOL DEPOT
Consumer prices in Ukraine fell by 0.7% in July, while since the beginning of the year their growth was 3.6%, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine has reported.
According to the agency, in annual terms (July 2018 to July 2017) inflation slowed down to 8.9% from 9.9% in June and 11.7% in May.
Underlying inflation in July 2018 also fell to minus 0.1% from zero in June.
Since the beginning of the year, the growth of the basic consumer price index stood at 3.4%. In annual terms, the growth of the index slowed to 8.8% from 9% in June.
According to the agency, in July prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased by 1.9% compared to June 2018, those of vegetables, fruits and eggs fell by 12.4-7.6%, while prices of milk and dairy products, lard, butter, pork were down by 1.1-0.2%.
At the same time, prices for sugar, cereals, bread, rice, poultry, pasta, fish and fish products went up by 1.9-0.7%.
Prices for alcoholic drinks and tobacco products increased by 1.8%, in particular for tobacco products by 2.6%, alcoholic drinks by 0.8%.
The growth of tariffs for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels by 0.5% occurred mainly due to the increase in tariffs for the maintenance of houses and adjacent areas by 4.2%, sewerage by 2.8%, water supply by 2.2%.
The increase in prices for transport as a whole by 0.7% was mainly due to a rise in fare in road passenger transport by 3.6%. At the same time, the cost of fuel and oil fell by 0.3%.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and grain traders have signed a memorandum to fix forecasted volume of wheat exports in the 2018/2019 marketing year (MY, July-June) at 16 million tonnes against 16.5 million tonnes in the previous MY.
The memorandum was signed on Friday, August 10, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent said.
According to the appendix to the memorandum, exports of food wheat, which can be exported this MY, is determined at 8 million tonnes, while coarse wheat exports were fixed at 8 million tonnes.
Such document has traditionally been signed since 2011 between the Ministry and the market operators at the beginning of the season.
First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Maksym Martyniuk said during the signing ceremony that the figures could be adjusted taking into account the quality and volume of wheat.
As reported, the ministry raised its forecast for wheat harvest by one million tonnes, to 24 million tonnes, including 13 million tonnes of food wheat. According to the ministry’s preliminary estimates, the ratio of food/coarse wheat in 2018 will be 55/45. The domestic market demand for food wheat is estimated at 4.5 -5 million tonnes.
Ukraine in 2017/2018 MY exported 39.4 million tonnes of grain, including 17.14 million tonnes of wheat.
