The number of victims of earthquakes that occurred in early February in the southeast of Turkey, exceeded the mark of 46 thousand people in this country, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The number of victims of earthquakes in southeastern Turkey has reached 46,104,” he was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency. Last week Ankara reported about 46 thousand dead, but at that time the issue was about data from two countries: Turkey and Syria.
According to Erdogan, the construction of 488 thousand new houses in the areas affected by earthquakes is planned.
The earthquake of magnitude 7.7 occurred in Turkey on the night of February 6, followed by a series of aftershocks, one of which had a magnitude of 7.6. These tremors caused serious damage and casualties in neighboring Syria as well.
OVL Properties LLC (Kyiv), created in January 2023, has bought the logistics complex Arktika in village Kryukivschyna (Kyiv region) for 200.5 million UAH at an auction in OpenMarket system (SE “Setam”).
According to the data in the OpenMarket system, a single property complex with a total area of 21.4 thousand square meters and a land plot of 4.9 hectares were under arrest and were put up for sale to recover debts from its owner.
According to the court materials, the owner of the complex BCT (Kiev) is debtor Dragon Capital Investments Limited (Cyprus), the amount of obligations is $7.2 million (UAH 190.1 million).
Dragon Capital Investments LLC and Inter Wei Capital LLC also took part in the auction on January 26.
According to Opendatabot, the founder of LLC “OVL Property” created a week before the auction is Elena Levshun.
As reported, in February 2019, Dragon Capital completed the acquisition of the Class A logistics complex “Arctic” owned by the state-owned Oschadbank with a total area of 21.5 thousand square meters near Kiev through its subsidiary “BCT”. Oschadbank sold “Arctic” in November 2018 on the electronic bidding platform OpenMarket state enterprise SETAM for 195 million UAH.
Later in 2021, Ukrainian businessman Yuri Kosyuk’s MHP agroholding rented a logistics center and opened its own Culinary Center there
Dragon Capital is one of the largest investment and financial services groups in Ukraine, providing a full range of investment banking and brokerage services, private equity, asset management for institutional, corporate and private clients. The company was founded in 2000 in Kiev. One of the key activities of Dragon Capital are investments in the real estate market.
The number of employees in the top 50 IT-companies in the period from August 2022 to January 2023 decreased by 5.3% to 92.4 thousand due to relocation in foreign offices of companies and legalization abroad, such research results were published on the DOU website on Monday.
According to him, most companies have up to 25% of their Ukrainian team members abroad.
“As the companies explained, the reduction, with some exceptions, does not mean a reduction in the number of specialists in the company. The IT specialists moved abroad to work in other offices of their own companies, they legalize there and stop paying taxes in Ukraine,” reads the text of the research.
Its authors recall that before the full-scale war, in January 2022, 50 largest IT-companies employed 100.3 thousand people, and in January 2021 – 76.3 thousand people.
It is noted that mostly companies began to actively legalize abroad it is technical specialists. If in the first half of 2022 the number of technical specialists was kept at the same level, in the second half there is a clear negative trend: minus 4.6 thousand specialists. The total number of technical specialists in the top 25 IT companies in January 2023 was 57.9 thousand compared to 62.5 thousand in January 2022.
In the five largest companies (Epam Ukraine, SoftServe, GlobalLogic Ukraine, EVOPLAY, Luxoft) the number of specialists decreased by 3.3 thousand in the second half of 2022, according to the study.
In particular, in company Epam Ukraine which occupies the first step in DOU rating, the number of working specialists decreased on 1260 persons in the first half-year of 2022 and 1225 in the second – to present 11,375 thousand persons (working in Ukraine or continuing to pay taxes in Ukraine even in case of moving abroad). The number of technical specialists of the company decreased by 9% to 10.4 thousand people. It is noted that some of the company’s specialists left Ukraine to escape the war and remain there. Jobs for EPAM in Ukraine today are few, because the need for specialists will be covered mainly through bench – internal specialists of the company, the material says.
The number of employees in Ukraine SoftServe (2nd place) decreased by 164 people in the first half of 2022 and by 1468 people in the second half – to 9.45 thousand people. The company has 22% fewer technicians (7,393). These changes are also explained by relocation: about 2 thousand SoftServe specialists moved abroad after the start of the full-scale invasion. Some of them returned, but many of them still stay abroad and now legalize in other locations of the company. Also, according to the DOU, there is some optimization going on, but not a massive one.
Ukraine exported 6.9 million tons of agricultural products in February 2023, up 14% from the previous month, the association Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) said on its Facebook page on Monday.
“This growth was tangible against the background of the fall in the indicator last month, and so – this is the average figure for the last six months. 49% of exports in February 2023 was realized through the work of the “grain corridor,” and the rest through alternative export routes. However, we must necessarily take into account that not all products had time to physically cross the border”, – clarifies the message of the Association.
UCAB notes that in February 2023 it exported 5.2 million tons of grain crops, which is 23% more than in January. By crops, 3.33 million tons of corn (64% of the total), 1.61 million tons of wheat (31%) and 21 thousand tons of barley (4%) were exported to foreign markets.
Ukraine also exported 557 thousand tons of oilseeds during this period – 30% less than in January. Abroad, 328.6 thousand tons of soybeans (59%), 167.1 thousand tons of sunflower seeds (30%) and 61.3 tons of rapeseed (11%).
UCAB also noted that exports of vegetable oils in February increased by 4% against the previous month – up to 435.7 thousand tons, 93% of which was sunflower oil (405.2 thousand tons) and 7% – soybean oil (26.1 thousand tons). In turn, exports of sunflower and soybean cake and meal decreased by 4% to 414.1 thousand tons, including 85% of sunflower waste (351.9 thousand tons) and 15% of soybean waste (62.1 thousand tons).
“February-2023 was the highest monthly export of grain crops since the beginning of the war – 5.2 million tons. Part of this growth was due to a decrease in oilseed crop exports. With the decline in oilseed exports due to the end of export stocks of rapeseed and the reorientation of sunflower seeds to the domestic market, it became possible to export more crops,” UCAB stressed in a report.
As previously reported UCAB, Ukraine exported 7 million tons of agricultural products in December 2022, in November – 7.2 million tons, in October and September – 6.9 million tons, in August – 4.6 million tons, in July – 3 million tons, in June – 2.7 million tons. According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, in May agricultural exports amounted to 1.74 million tons, in April – 0.96 million tons, in March – 0.33 million tons.
Prior to the full-scale military invasion by the Russian Federation, Ukraine used to export an average of 5-6 million tons of agricultural products per month, mainly through its maritime infrastructure in the Black Sea.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is preparing a new program that could prohibit investments in certain industries in China, The Wall Street Journal wrote.
Such a measure would be another step by the United States aimed at preserving technological advantages in the face of growing competition between the world’s two largest economies, the article noted.
The Treasury and Commerce departments said in reports to lawmakers that they are considering a new system to regulate U.S. foreign investment in advanced technology that could pose a national security threat. The documents, seen by the WSJ, say the president’s administration could prohibit certain investments and would also gather information on other investments. Specific technology sectors are not listed in the reports, but the focus will be on areas that could improve military capabilities.
The new program will cover private and venture capital investments in the development of advanced semiconductors, quantum computing and some forms of artificial intelligence, sources said. U.S. officials want to prevent U.S. investors from providing funding and expertise to Chinese companies that could, for example, improve Beijing’s speed and accuracy in military decision-making.
The U.S. government has long closely monitored foreign investment in China’s economy, in some cases banning it through an interagency group called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. But the rules governing U.S. investment overseas will be a new step in a broader effort by the Biden administration to prevent China from developing technology that U.S. authorities believe could pose a national security threat. Last year, the United States imposed new restrictions on exports of semiconductors and chip-making equipment to slow China’s military advancement, the WSJ notes.
At the same time, administration officials are reaching out to close G7 allies to gain their support for the concept of limiting investment in China.
One of the world’s largest venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital, has already begun vetting new investments in Chinese semiconductor or quantum computing companies in preparation for new U.S. rules, according to the article.
In more details the situation in the economy of Ukraine and the world was analyzed by the analytical center “Club of experts“, the video is available at the link
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine warns of possible technical interruptions in the work of checkpoints on the border with Poland, Slovakia and Hungary on March 7 from 8:00 to 22:00.
“On March 7, 2023 from 8:00 to 22:00 there may be technical interruptions in the passage of passengers at the border. Information systems used in border control at external borders will be updated,” such announcement was posted on the official page of the State Border Service on Monday with a request to take this information into account when planning a trip.
