KYIV. April 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Construction of one of the largest industrial parks in western Ukraine – Sigma Park Yarychiv – on a land parcel of around 25 ha in Lviv region will start in April 2017, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
“In April the preparation for construction of one of the largest logistics parks in western Ukraine Sigma Park Yarychiv on 25 ha will start. Several large and dozens of small foreign companies will operation in Stary Yarychiv located 20 km far from Lviv in two years. They would create around 8,000 jobs,” the prime minister said.
He said that the opening of the industrial park would add some UAH 40-50 million to the budget of the rural council every year.
“I am sure that the creation of these industrial parks would allow us to make a breakthrough. Thanks to the founders for the real step to economic growth! I hope that lawmakers would support relevant legislation on industrial and technological parks that would help to stimulate this development,” he said.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The total cost of assets of private pension funds in Ukraine as of late 2016 reached UAH 2.139 billion, and this was 8% more than as of late 2015 and 13.4% less than as of late 2014, according to a posting on the website of the national commission for financial service markets regulation.
The regulator said that total revenue received from investment of pension assets grew by 23.9%, to UAH 1.081 billion. Profit from investing assets was UAH 834.8 million (27.1% up).
The sum of retirement investments grew by 0.4%, to UAH 1.895 billion. Companies paid UAH 1.802 billion (95.1% of total investments, 0.2% down). Investments by individuals totaled UAH 92.2 million (14.8% up).
Expenses settled using pension assets grew by 14.2%, reaching UAH 245.7 million for the period of existence of pension funds or 11.5% of total cost of assets.
The regulator said that the number of pension contracts signed by administrators of the private pension funds grew by 4.9%, to 62,600 thanks to growth of the number of contracts signed with individuals by 6.2%, to 55,200.
The number of investors grew by 2.5%, to 56,500.
The total number of participants of private pension funds was 834,000, including 81,300 (9.7%) receiving pensions.
Pension payments grew by 13.1%, to UAH 629.9 million.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The number of foreign tourists visiting Ukraine in 2016 increased by 5.6% compared to 2015, to 13.6 million people, according to a report from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, with reference to data from the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
According to its data, Moldovan citizens predominated among foreign tourists who visited Ukraine in 2016, they accounted for 32.9% or 4.474 million people.
At the same time, Belarusian citizens took a share of 13.4% (1.828 million people), Russians 11.3% (1.543 million people), Hungarians 9.3% (1.271 million people), and Polish citizens 8.8% (1.195 million people).
The number of tourists from Russia who visited Ukraine in 2016 increased by 16.8%, or by 221,643 people, compared to 2015.
Most of all tourist traffic to Ukraine in 2016 grew from Tajikistan: the figure tripled compared to 2015, to 165,158 people. The number of tourists from Uzbekistan increased by 1.9 times, to 136,021 people, from Lithuania by 48%, to 52,273 people, from Turkey by 44.7%, to 206,706 people, and from Israel by 45.1%, to 217,160 people.
According to the document, 95.3% of tourists visited Ukraine in 2016 for personal reasons, 2% on transit, 1.3% as tourists, 1.1% for other purposes, and 0.2% for service purposes.
ODESA. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Odesa customs office of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in March 2017 sent UAH 2.24 billion of customs payments to the national budget.
The press service of the main department of the State Fiscal Service in Odesa region reported on Tuesday that this is a record-breaking figure. In the whole history of Odesa customs office since Ukraine’s independence the office’s monthly payments had not even reached UAH 2 billion.
“Average daily payments are also record-breaking. They are twice more than in March 2016, being UAH 102 million. In the first quarter of 2017 Odesa customs office collected over UA H 4.083 billion of customs payments. This is UAH 1.76 billion more than a year ago,” the press service said.
As reported, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in September 2015 signed law No. 666-VIII amending Section IV “Final and Transitional Provisions” of the Budget Code of Ukraine related to the experiment in Odesa, Volyn, Lviv and Chernivtsi regions in financial support for the reconstruction and maintenance of public roads of national importance.
The document clarifies in case of meeting the monthly budget customs payments revenue target more than by 100%, 50% of the extra sum should be sent to the regions in proportion to their share of this sum.
The Verkhovna Rada in December 2016 expanded the experiment on financial support for the reconstruction and maintenance of public roads of national importance at the expense of part of customs duties for all the regions of Ukraine.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The TripMyDream trip search service plans to increase sales of air tickets by six times using own portal this year, the co-founder of the service Andriy Burenok has said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said according to his calculations, not taking into account direct sales of tickets via websites of airlines, charters and low cost airlines, a total of 2-2.5 million air tickets were sold in 2016 and this is more than in 2015. The share of online sales is 40%.
“Meanwhile, we do not sell tickets as Tickets.ua and Pilot. They are our partners. We give the traffic and redirect to websites that sell tickets. In money terms tickets for some $700 million were sold in Ukraine. Profit from sales was around $30 million. According to our calculation, around 5% of total volumes of air tickets bought online are purchased via our portal. We expect to have 30% by the end of this year. This is our ambitious goal. We must boost sales by six times,” he said.
Asked who the key client of the service is and what clients usually select, he said that these are mainly sightseeing lovers, then beach and exotic place lovers. Sightseeing cities, trips with sightseeing for two-four days prevail.
“We have active users from Ukraine, Russia and some European countries,” Burenok said.
TripMyDream is the service helping online users to find a trip, including air tickets, hotels and other options for accommodation, as well as services linked to trips (insurance, transfers, sightseeing) provided by partners. The founders of the service are Andriy Burenok and Taras Polischuk.
KYIV. April 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Sumy Machine-Building Science and Production Association (Sumy NPO) has signed a contract to supply a crankshaft for a reciprocating compressor with Rustavi Azot (Georgia), the press service of the company reported on Tuesday.
According to the contract, which cost is not disclosed, the crankshaft will be made in Q3 2017.
The weight of the billet exceeds 9.5 tonnes, and the finished crankshaft will weigh at least 5.6 tonnes.
According to the press release, Sumy NPO has been cooperating with Rustavi Azot since late 1960s. The Sumy NPO branded compressor equipment has been operating at the chemical plant for 50 years. Sumy machine builders from time to time produce spare parts for them.
Sumy Machine-Building Science and Production Association is one of the biggest producers in Europe of gas re-pumping units and outfitted compressor stations for various uses: centrifugal, vacuum, and chemical pumps, and centrifuges and other equipment for the chemicals gas and oil-refining industries.
Rustavi Azot produces chemical fertilizers.
