U.S. car sales in the first quarter increased by 7.5 percent year-on-year, MarketWatch wrote.
In January-March 2023, automakers sold 3.59 million cars compared to 3.34 million cars a year earlier.
General Motors sales were up 17.6%, Nissan sales were up 17.3%, Honda Motor Co. sales were up 11.7%, Hyundai sales were up 15.5% and Kia sales were up 21.8%. Stellantis and Toyota worsened by 9.1% and 8.8%, respectively.
The average car loan interest rate reached a 15-year high of 7%, and the average monthly payment for a new car was a record $730.
In 2022, automakers couldn’t meet demand due to a chip shortage and sold only 13.9 million cars. Previously, about 17 million cars were sold in a year. This year, sales will total 14.8 million cars, analyst firm Edmunds predicts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a meeting with a delegation of politicians, businessmen and representatives of United States charities led by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The head of state noted the importance of such visits and meetings, which are a powerful signal of support for Ukrainians in our fight for freedom and democracy, the press service of the Office of the President reported Tuesday.
“I’m glad to see you have come with your friends,” the president said, addressing Mike Pompeo. – Comprehensive American support is very important to us.”
During the meeting, the head of state invited American business to actively invest in Ukraine. “We are open to this, we are ready to provide you with full assistance. It is very important for us,” he said.
Zelensky informed about business development opportunities in construction, agriculture, IT technology, etc. The president also emphasized the importance of continuing and strengthening defense assistance and joint development of defense technologies, taking into account the experience acquired by Ukraine during the war. “Invest in business, because business is what creates jobs. We are interested in people being able to find jobs and the budget getting revenue to strengthen our capabilities on the battlefield,” summarized the head of state.
A number of other topical issues were also discussed, in particular Ukraine’s movement to NATO, the importance of further strengthening the sanctions pressure on Russia. Zelenski noted the activities of American charitable organizations, whose representatives were present at the meeting, focused on helping displaced people, rebuilding destroyed housing stock, providing medical care, and providing drinking water and food.
Poland on 27 March has changed the rules for importing pets from Ukraine, the press service of the Main Veterinary Inspectorate of the country said.
It is noted that under the new rules of importation of animals to Poland, transported animals must meet the requirements of the European Union legislation.
In particular, dogs, cats and ferrets under the standard procedure will be able to accompany travelers if the animal is properly microchipped, has a current rabies vaccination, a current serological test to determine the antibody titer against rabies, and a health certificate in accordance with a sample established by EU legislation, or in certain cases, a valid passport issued in one of the EU member states.
“In order to facilitate movement within the EU, until further notice, Polish services will not require a 90-day waiting period from the date of blood sample collection to test the antibody titer against rabies in serum if the test result is satisfactory (> 0.5 IU/ml) and is indicated on the animal health certificate,” the report states.
It specifies that the Ukrainian official veterinarian must cross out the relevant endorsement of the 90-day waiting period in the certificate of health of the animal, putting his signature and stamp with his name in the margin of the crossed out endorsement.
“The health certificate must be accompanied by documentation of the examination,” the inspection concluded.
Oil prices continue to rise on Tuesday after a year’s biggest jump in the previous session on the decision of several OPEC+ countries, including Saudi Arabia, to further cut production.
June Brent crude futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange are at $85.32 a barrel by 8:05 a.m., up $0.39 (0.46%) from the previous session’s closing price. Those contracts rose $5.04 (6.3%) to $84.93 a barrel on Monday.
The price of WTI crude oil futures for May at electronic trades of NYMEX grew by that time by $0.38 (0.47%) up to $80.80 per barrel. The contract value grew by $4.75 (6.3%) to $80.42 per barrel at the end of previous session.
The rise in value of Brent on Monday was the highest since March 21, 2022, WTI – since April 12 last year, according to Dow Jones.
On Sunday evening, 9 of the 20 OPEC+ countries announced voluntary production cuts from May through the end of the year, in addition to commitments to adjust oil production made at last October’s meeting (a total reduction of 2 million bpd to August 2022 levels).
The additional voluntary production adjustment by OPEC+ countries will total 1.66 million bpd, according to a statement released after the OPEC+ monitoring committee meeting on Monday.
The unexpected decision of some OPEC+ states led to a revision of forecasts for oil prices by a number of experts and triggered a new wave of concerns over inflation, Bloomberg notes.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs raised the price forecast for Brent for December 2023 to $95 from $90 and for December 2024 to $100 from $95 per barrel.
Rystad Energy experts admit that the price of Brent may rise to the region of $110 per barrel this summer.
The receipt of $2.7bn of the first tranche of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) extended EFF loan has boosted Ukraine’s international reserves to more than $32bn, First Deputy NBU Governor Yekaterina Rozhkova has said.
“Taking into account these funds, the amount of assistance received from our partners since the beginning of the year reached $13.6 billion, and international reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine exceeded $32 billion,” she wrote on Facebook.
As it was reported, the volume of interventions of the National Bank in March decreased to $1.67 billion from $2.43 billion in February and $3.08 billion and $3.16 billion in January and December.
Due to lower currency receipts from international partners and simultaneous growth of payments on foreign currency debts, Ukraine’s international reserves in February decreased by 3.5%, or $1.064 billion to $28.865 billion, but remained above the level of the beginning of the year at $28.494 billion.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko and Hamburg Mayor Peter Chencher at a meeting in the Ukrainian capital discussed further assistance to Kiev, in particular the issue of providing autonomous emergency communication systems, Klitschko said
“Today met with the first mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg Peter Chencher. Thanked for the support and assistance of Hamburg to the Ukrainian capital. And agreed on further cooperation. We discussed with Mr. Chencher assistance of our German partners in providing Kiev with communication systems for emergency cases (in case of blackout). They are necessary today, in particular, for emergency stations, rescue workers, utilities, “- Klitschko wrote on his page on Facebook.
According to him, the issue of providing Kiev with the latest equipment for the warning system was also discussed.
“Very important for our city is the issue of safety of its residents. Kiev needs equipment for the latest warning system, which we have already begun to install. We are talking about a system for announcing air-raid alarms. To develop this system, we need more devices that work autonomously when there is no light. An example of a system that Kiev is installing now is the German one, among others. The mayor of Hamburg assured further assistance to Kiev – both in the current acute needs and in the future reconstruction of the capital of Ukraine”, – said Klitschko.
In addition, Hamburg has provided Kiev with three city buses as assistance, which are already on their way to Kiev.
Klitschko called on German partners to continue to support Ukraine until victory.
“Vladimir and I also talked to the German media and urged both the German authorities and German society to continue to support Ukraine and provide all necessary assistance for our victory and the establishment of peace in Europe,” said Vitali Klitschko.
As it was reported, Kiev and Hamburg signed the “Agreement for solidarity and future” on April 24, 2022. They agreed on a strategic partnership and support in times of crisis.
