Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin and Finance Minister of Qatar Ali Shareef Al-Emadi have signed an agreement on avoiding double taxation and preventing income tax evasion between the government of Ukraine and Qatar. According to a Thursday posting on the website of the Finance Ministry of Ukraine, avoiding double taxation of individual and company income will be achieved thanks to the distribution of the taxation right for some types of income between Ukraine and Qatar and thanks to taking into account payment of taxes in one country by a taxpayer in his or her tax obligations of another state.
The ministry said that the agreement envisages taxation of dividends at 5% if the ultimate owner of dividends is a company that owns at least 10% of the company that pays dividends and 10% for the rest of the cases.
Royalty rate is set at 5% and 10% and the same rates are approved for taxation of interest. The ministry said that Ukraine and Qatar are to finish internal procedures required for the ratification of the agreement.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the bill amending some Ukrainian laws in the sphere of construction and exploitation of roads passed by the Verkhovna Rada on February 27, 2018. “The implementation of the bill will help to create conditions for attracting investment for construction and exploitation of concession roads,” the press service of the head of state reported on Thursday. This law provides for amendments to the laws of Ukraine on concessions, on concessions for the construction and operation of highways, on roads, on sources of financing of the road economy of Ukraine, on selling land parcels and other real estate facilities located on them, privately owned, for public needs or for reasons of social necessity aimed at improving the legislative regulation of construction and operation of motor roads of general use on a concession basis. The law comes into force on the day following the day of its publication.
As reported, According to the explanatory note to the document, concession roads are roads of higher quality, which meet high standards, since the main thing for the users of these roads will be the quality and speed of traffic. These roads are built to cut and straighten the route bypassing populated areas and connect the two towns directly, reducing the route by 50-100 km, resulting in a reduction in fuel costs and time savings.
Meanwhile, the law of Ukraine on concessions for the construction and operation of roads indicates that the decision on the construction and/or operation of roads on concession terms is taken by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the basis of a feasibility study, but it is not determined what exactly should be mentioned in this decision. In addition, the law does not provide for the concessionaire to compensate for failure to reach the actual traffic intensity and when income is not received.
“It is also worth noting that the mechanism for allocating land for the construction, operation and maintenance of highways has not been clearly regulated,” the explanatory note stated.
Thus, the bill in particular provides: roads of general use of state importance can be transferred for the construction and operation on concession terms; after making a decision on the construction and operation of highways that can be provided for concession, the executive authorities are prohibited from taking any actions with land parcels foreseen for the construction and operation of these highways for use and/or ownership of citizens or legal entities.
According to the document, the decision on holding a concession tender is taken by the Ukrainian government, which, inter alia, specifies the technical parameters of the highway, the basic financial indicators for granting the road to the concession, the deadline for which the concession is granted, the maximum amount of compensation to the concessionaire and the alternative route which can be taken free of charge.
The Cabinet of Ministers also determines the largest amount of a flat toll for using motor roads built on the terms of concession, which is paid taking into account the level of inflation and the conditions under which the concession award is made to the concessionaire.
Concession payments are sent to the national budget of Ukraine.
Ireland’s low cost airline Ryanair will study a possibility of opening new bases in Ukraine, along with Kyiv and Lviv, and launching of domestic flights.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary gave this information at a press conference in the Boryspil airport (Kyiv) on Friday devoted to the arrival of the airline to Ukraine.
“We will study the possibility of launching domestic flights. We hope that maybe in the not-too-distant future we would be able to speak about opening of bases not only in Kyiv and Lviv, but also in other cities of Ukraine,” he said.
As reported, the Boryspil and Lviv international airports on Friday, March 23, signed contracts with low-cost air carrier Ryanair on the beginning of flights to Ukraine. The company has already started selling tickets for Ukrainian flights in its booking system.
Present at the event, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that Ryanair will start flights in October 2018 and launch flights to 10 destinations from Kyiv, five from Lviv and in the first year of operation will transport 1 million Ukrainians.
In turn, O’Leary corrected him: “We do not expect that there will be a million Ukrainians in the first 12 months of operation. 40% of them will be European travelers who will come to Ukraine. We expect 850,000 passengers for the first year, and for the second year, it is possible to cross the line of 1 million.”
According to him, Ukraine is becoming a very attractive tourist destination. “We expect that we will bring hundreds of thousands of Europeans to Kyiv, Lviv and eventually to Odesa and other cities,” the head of Ryanair said.
He thanked Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan and his team for “very tough negotiations that had been going on in recent months,” adding that the airline is inspired, it is ready to grow rapidly and develop its presence in the country.
The PSA Group in Ukraine plans to increase the share of the new passenger car and commercial vehicle market in 2018 to 6.2% compared with 4.63% in 2017, including the share of the Peugeot brand will be 3.75% and Citroen – 2.45% (2.75% and 1.88% respectively in 2017).
Director General of Peugeot Citroen Ukraine Viktor Kordilevsky said at a press conference on Thursday that it is expected that the new passenger car and commercial vehicle market this year could expand by 20% on 2017, to 105,000 vehicles, while the pessimistic scenario is 9% growth to 95,000 vehicles.
Kordilevsky said that the Ukrainian market could reach the pre-crisis volume (200,000 vehicles) no earlier than in five years.
He said that imports of used cars and bringing of cars with European registration affects the market.
“Among negative trends is migration of the population abroad, as these are potential buyers of cars,” he said.
He said that in 2017, the PSA group significantly strengthened its position in the Ukrainian market of new cars, selling more than 4,000 cars of Peugeot, Citroen and DS brands – by 47% more than a year ago with a 25% market growth – to 87,600 units, including 2,400 Peugeot cars sold (47.6% more) and 1,600 Citroen cars (46.3%).
At the same time, the sales volume in the SUV segment (crossovers and off-road vehicles of different segments, sizes, price niches) amounted to 42,300 units, that is, almost half of the total Ukrainian car market. The share of this segment grows year after year.
Metinvest mining and metal group could create a joint venture with Italy’s Marcegaglia SpA for the acquisition of the steel works in Galati, Romania (former SIDEX) if ArcelorMittal Group decides to sell it. According to Ziarul Financiar, which refers to Reuters, ArcelorMittal could sell its metal division in Galati to meet European antimonopoly legislation during the acquisition of Ilva steel plant in Italy.
According to the report, the European Commission proposed to ArcelorMittal to sell other assets, including the plant in Galati, which today produces 2 million tonnes of steel a year, when the commission considered the approval to acquire the Italian plant by ArcelorMittal.
The possible buyer could be JV of Metinvest and Marcegaglia, Ziarul Financiar’s sources familiar with the deal said.
Boryspil (Kyiv) and Lviv international airports have signed agreements on the start of flights to Ukraine with Ireland’s low cost airline Ryanair. An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary signed the agreements with Director General of the Boryspil airport Pavlo Riabikin and Director General of Lviv airport Tetiana Romanovska on Friday at the Boryspil airport in the presence of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
The airline has started selling tickets for Ukrainian flights in its booking system.
Poroshenko said that Ryanair will start flying in October 2018 and will launch flights to 10 destinations from Kyiv and five from Lviv.
The Ukrainian president said that the arrival of the airline to Ukraine is the seal of quality of investment climate. He said that the tickets for Ukrainians will be cheaper than EUR 40 and the airline seeks to carry 1 million Ukrainians in the first year of its operation.
