Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv), the country’s largest air carrier, has performed the first flight along the Kyiv-Delhi route.
According to an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent, the aircraft departed on May 1 at 20:50 Kyiv time and arrived at around 06:00 Indian time. The occupancy was about 100 passengers, while about 245 tickets were sold on the return flight.
The flight will be operated four times a week and soon, according to UIA Vice President for Commerce Serhiy Fomenko, five times a week.
Previously the company noted that flights from Kyiv will be on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. And return flights from Delhi will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday on board Boeing 767-300 aircraft with three classes of service – business, premium, and economy – to/from Delhi International Airport (Indira Gandhi International).
“Delhi will be the fifth long-haul route in the UIA network and the second point connecting Ukraine with the countries of the Indian subcontinent,” UIA Corporate Spokeswoman Yevhenia Satska said.
As reported, the minimum cost of a ticket in both directions, taking into account all fees and taxes, from Kyiv starts from UAH 14,849 (the price may vary depending on the hryvnia to U.S. dollar exchange rate fluctuations), from Delhi from $529.
Ukraine raised ferroalloy output 3.8% year-on-year in Q1 2018 to 266,320 tonnes, the Ukrainian Ferroalloy Producers’ Association has told Interfax-Ukraine. The country raised silicon manganese production 10.9% to 221,110 tonnes while ferromanganese output fell 29.8% to 21,960 tonnes. Output of 45%-ferrosilicon fell 15.2% to 19,800 tonnes and manganese metal production fell 17.6%, to 1,970 tonnes.
Nikopol Ferroalloy Works, the biggest of Ukraine’s three ferroalloy smelters, raised silicon manganese production 14.3% to 189,450 tonnes but reduced ferromanganese output 41.5% to 12,760 tonnes and boosted other alloy output 6.3-fold to 1,480 tonnes. Overall ferroalloy output at Nikopol grew 8.5% 203,690 tonnes.
Zaporizhia Ferroalloy Works reduced silicon manganese production 5.7% to 31,660 tonnes, with ferromanganese falling 2.6% to 9,200 tonnes. Overall output fell 8.9% to 62,630 tonnes.
The Stakhanov Ferroalloy Plant idled due to the conflict in Luhansk region, where it is located.
The country’s two manganese concentrate producers, the Pokrovsky (formerly Ordzhonikidze) and Marhanets mining and beneficiation plants, produced 301,830 tonnes of concentrate between them in Q1 2018, 13.3% more than a year previously. Pokrovsky raised output 20.1% to 186,870 tonnes and Marhanets raised it 3% to 114,960 tonnes. Pokrovsky also produced 36,130 tonnes of manganese sinter, up 2.3-fold.
PrivatBank (Dnipro) organized the business of the Nikopol and Zaporizhia ferroalloy plants, as well as Pokrovsky and Marhanets mining and processing enterprises until its nationalization.
The Nikopol plant is controlled by EastOne Group, established in autumn 2007 as a result of restructuring of Interpipe Group, and Privat Group (both based in Dnipro).
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) from April 27, 2018 introduced UAH 1 and UAH 2 coins, the central bank has said on its website.
The NBU said that these coins will be in circulation jointly with the old UAH 1 coin and UAH 1 and UAH 2 banknotes.
“Ukrainian will be able to pay using the new coins synchronously with the UAH 1 and UAH 2 banknotes for the unlimited period of time. The NBU will not remove UAH 1 and UAH 2 banknotes from circulation, and eventually the coins would fully replace the damaged and worn down banknotes,” Director of the money circulation department at the NBU Viktor Zaivenko said.
As reported, the NBU intends to stop printing UAH 1, UAH 2, UAH 5, UAH 10 banknotes and replace them with coins.
The NBU said that that UAH 1 and UAH 2 coins will be put into circulation on April 27, 2018, UAH 5 and 10 UAH coins will be introduced under a separate decision of the NBU.
The first issue of UAH 1 and 2 coins will be 5 million pieces of each denomination. They will be put into the market along with the withdrawal of the worn-out banknotes of the corresponding denominations.
Fozzy-Food (Vyshneve, Kyiv region), part of the Fozzy Group (Kyiv) and earlier developing the Silpo supermarket chain, saw UAH 138.6 million of net profit in 2017, while in 2016 the company saw UAH 436.3 million of net loss.
According to a company report in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market, net revenue last year plunged by 98.6%, to UAH 492.3 million (the same as net revenue for January-September 2017).
Gross profit in 2017 plunged by 814%, to UAH 8.3 million (the same as gross profit for January-September 2017). Operation loss fell by 68.8%, to UAH 63 million.
Uncovered loss fell by 3%, to UAH 2.55 billion, and current liabilities – by 84,9%, to UAH 1.5 billion, while noncurrent liabilities – by 98.5%, to UAH 34.4 million.
Fozzi-Food LLC, a structural unit of the Fozzy Group, was registered in December 2002. Previously, it was engaged in the development of the Silpo supermarket chain in Ukraine.
As reported, Silpo-Food LLC (Kyiv) is developing the Silpo network now.
American Apple Inc. could launch the Apple Pay service of mobile payments in Ukraine in June 2018, co-founder of the Monobank project Oleh Gorohovsky has said. “PrivatBank starts first and then all the rest. According to my information, this may happen in June. There are some employees of PrivatBank whose iPhone test cards are already connected to Apple Pay,” he wrote on Facebook. According to Gorohovsky, Apple Pay will work in Monobank in a couple of months after the launch of the first bank. He also stressed that such are the features of launching Apple Pay in almost all countries.
The co-founder noted that Monobank clients actively use the Google Pay application and Monobank is one of the three leading banks in Ukraine in this indicator.
Earlier, the profile English-language portal AppleInsider reported, with reference to Apple Head Tim Cook, that U.S.-based Apple Inc. confirmed the launch of Apple Pay in Ukraine in the coming months.
The Apple Pay service allows paying for purchases using an Apple smartphone, to which the bank card is attached.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has retained its forecast for Ukraine’s GDP growth in 2018 at 3.2%, while it reviewed downwards the forecast for 2019 to 3.3% from 4%, according to the World Economic Outlook. The Parliament has ratified a guarantee agreement between Ukraine and the World Bank for a loan of $150 million. The World Bank has kept the forecast for Ukraine’s GDP growth in 2018 at 3.5%, Lead Economist and Program Leader covering Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Faruk Khan said.
Ukraine’s GDP growth in 2018 is expected at 3.2% with inflation (December on December) of 9.7%, and next year it would slightly slow to 3.1% and accelerate in 2020 to 3.3%, according to the updated consensus forecast published by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in February 2018 amounted to $457 million, while in January 2018 it was $284.1 million, the State Statistics Service has said.
Inflation in Ukraine in 2018 could again be larger than the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) expected along with the expected increase in expenses on salaries, World Bank Economist for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova Anastasia Golovach said in Kyiv.
Prices in the industry of Ukraine in March 2018 increased by 0.3%, while in February their growth was 1.2%, in January 4.4%, the State Statistics Service has reported.
The growth of consumer prices in Ukraine in March 2018 was 1.1% compared to 0.9% in February and 1.5% in January, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine reported.
The revenues of the national budget of Ukraine for the three months of 2018 amounted to UAH 193.567 billion, which is UAH 6.185 billion or 3.1% less than the target, the State Treasury Service of Ukraine reported on its website.
The growth of real GDP of Ukraine in the first quarter of 2018 in annual terms (quarter-over-quarter) was 2.3%, according to the assessments of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
Industrial production in Ukraine in March 2018 grew by 1% compared to March 2017, while in February this figure was 1.9%, in January 3.6%, the State Statistics Service has said.
The volume of sold industrial products (goods, services) in January and February 2018 stood at UAH 402.975 billion, which is 16.3% more than in January and February 2017, in particular the volume sold abroad was worth UAH 108.704 billion (a decrease of 26.48%), the State Statistics Service has reported.
Ukraine’s retail trade turnover grew by 7.6% in comparable prices in January-March 2018 (Q1) year-over-year, the State Statistics Service said.
Consumer confidence index in Ukraine is growing for the fifth consecutive quarter: in Q4 2017 it reached 61 points, which is 3 points more than in Q3 2017 and 9 points more than in Q4 2016, according to the Nielsen global consumer confidence report.
