Winter vacations in the capital’s schools will start on schedule, from December 26, 2022, Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said.
“But will last a month – until January 27, 2023. During this time, schools will be heated in minimum mode to support the heating system. Teachers, if desired, can go on paid leave for the duration of the vacations,” Klitschko wrote in his Telegram channel.
He noted that in case of emergency, part of the schools in the city will be used for the work of heating points.
The school year will last in the capital’s schools until July 1 – according to the law.
The real gross domestic product (GDP) of Ukraine in the second quarter of 2022 fell by 37.2% compared to the second quarter of 2021 after falling by 15.1% in the first quarter of this year, the State Statistics Service has published a preliminary estimate.
The decrease in real gross domestic product (GDP) of Ukraine in August 2022 compared to August 2021 is estimated at 35%, the Ministry of Economy has given such an estimate.
Ukraine’s real GDP will fall by 31% in 2022 and will recover by 8% in 2023 if half of the current major negative factors are resolved by the end of 2022, and by the end of 2023 they will disappear, predicts the investment company Concorde Capital.
The recovery of Ukraine’s real GDP next year after a 32% slump this year will be negligible-4%, due to the loss of physical assets and human capital, predicts ICU investment group.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) still expects Ukraine’s economy to contract by 30% in 2022, but for 2023 it has worsened its growth forecast from 25% to 8%, according to the bank’s Regional Economic Outlook report.
Exports of goods from Ukraine in August increased by 13.9% compared to July – up to $3.363 billion, while imports decreased by 2.3% – to $4.416 billion, said the Ministry of Economy. According to its data, as a result of negative balance of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in the past month decreased to $1.053 billion from $1.569 billion in July and $1.549 billion in June.
Ukraine’s merchandise trade deficit for the first half of September 2022 was only $111 million compared to $1.05 billion in August, Deputy Economy Minister – Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said on Facebook on Thursday.
The draft state budget for 2023 provides for UAH 1.28 trillion of revenues and UAH 2.57 trillion of expenses, said Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal.
Ukraine’s consolidated balance of payments deficit in July 2022 was $299 million compared to a surplus of UAH 484 million in July last year, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said on its website.
Ukraine’s international reserves as of September 1, 2022, according to preliminary data, amounted to $25 billion 436 million (in equivalent), which is 13.6% more than at the beginning of June ($22.757bn), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
Consumer price growth in Ukraine accelerated to 1.1% in August 2022 from 0.7% in July, the State Statistics Service (Gosstat) said.
Taxable imports of land vehicles to Ukraine in January-August 2022 decreased by 53% compared to the same period in 2021, to $2.191bn.
Head of the project “Economic Monitoring” candidate of economic sciences Maksim Urakin
Fresh statistical data on the dynamics of consumer prices in the U.S. in October, which were better than expected, may indicate a turning point in the fight of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) with high inflation and lead to a significant rise in the stock market, experts believe Fundstrat.
Experts predict that the current rally on Wall Street could last 50 days and allow the indicator S & P 500 to soar by 25%, as investors expect that the most aggressive pace of tightening monetary policy by the Fed is over.
This includes analysts pointing to a “significant slowdown” in consumer price growth on a monthly basis, weakening inflation in the durable goods segment and lower health insurance prices.
These signs indicate that inflation could “significantly slow down” in the coming months, said Fundstrat Research Director Tom Lee, quoted by MarketWatch.
According to the expert, if the situation remains favorable, core inflation will increase by 0.3% on a monthly basis within “three to four months.
Consumer prices, excluding food and energy costs (Core CPI), rose by 0.3% on a month-on-month basis in October, which is lower than experts expected. At the same time, the increase in September was 0.6%.
Lee notes that a slowdown in inflation could also help the U.S. stock market grow as the economy avoids a deep recession.
According to him, the likelihood of a pause in the Federal Reserve’s tightening of monetary policy after December has increased on the back of fresh data on inflation.
Market analysts are closely watching for signs that could indicate the Fed will either take a pause in aggressive rate hikes or even begin leaning lower.
The Fed has raised rates by 75 basis points in its last four meetings, now at 3.75-4%. The regulator is closely watching the data on the growth rate of consumer prices, which is one of the important factors in making decisions about monetary policy. The Fed’s inflation target is 2%.
The Fed’s next meeting is December 13-14. Markets are pricing in the current interest rate hike of 50 basis points at the next meeting.
The Index Committee of the Ukrainian Exchange (UX) decided to include Kernel (ticker KER) and Krukiv Wagon Works (KVBZ) shares in the index basket, which was recently deprived of Ukrnafta and Motor Sich because of their alienation by the government.
According to the decision, they will be included in the index from December 16.
Kernel shares were added to the waiting list a year ago. The main trading floor for them is the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
“Ukrnafta had 22.85% in the index basket, while Motor Sich had 33.06%.
After this withdrawal only five securities remained in the UX index basket: MHP with a weight of 26.29%, Centrenergo with 9.57%, Raiffeisen Bank with 6.45%, Ukrenergomashiny (formerly Turboatom) with 0.89%, and Donbasenergo with 0.88%.
“Ukrainian Exchange” was founded on May 15, 2008 by the leading participants of the Ukrainian securities market together with the Russian stock exchange RTS, which later merged with the “Moscow Exchange”. UB was the first to launch an order market, Internet trading, repo market, central counterparty settlement and futures market. However, in mid-July 2018, the exchange suspended trading in all securities in a no-address order mode due to a ban on the use of Moscow Exchange software in its operations.
In March 2019, UB announced that it would resume trading in the bid market on a new platform.
Currently, the exchange is among the three largest securities traders on the Ukrainian market.
The Ukrainian Exchange (UX) on Friday decided to exclude from its exchange list the shares of Ukrnafta and Motor Sicha, which were alienated in favor of the state by a November 6 decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Staff.
“The following securities have been excluded from the Exchange list since Nov. 14, 2022 due to the lack of free float of shares: MSICH – Motor Sich and UNAF – Ukrnafta,” the message on the exchange website reads.
Earlier this week, these shares were excluded from the exchange basket.
Despite the alienation of all shares on November 6, there are still applications for the purchase of “Ukrnafta” shares on the Exchange, and their price rose to 377 UAH per share, although the day before the alienation of shares were quoted at 229.69 UAH per share, which corresponds to the capitalization of about 12.5 billion UAH.
“Ukrnafta had 22.85% in the index basket, while Motor Sich had 33.06%.
As reported, the rate of Supreme Commander in Chief on November 5 decided to withdraw shares of Ukrnafta, Ukrtatnafta (excluding the share of Naftogaz of Ukraine), Motor Sich, AvtoKrAZ and Zaporizhtransformator as military property of the state during martial law. This was done on November 6 after the regulator regulated the procedure by the National Commission for Securities and Stock Market.
In Ukrnafta, the controlling interest belongs to Naftogaz of Ukraine, while the minority stake of about 42% belongs to the so-called Privat Group owned by Igor Kolomoyskyy and Gennady Bogolyubov, while in Ukrtatnafta (Kremenchug refinery) the situation is reversed.
The circulation of all shares of Motor Sich, the largest owner of which was the recently arrested president of the company Vyacheslav Boguslayev, has been blocked since April 2018 after the sale of a controlling stake in the Chinese Skyrizon and related parties a year earlier.
“AvtoKrAZ” and “Zaporozhtransformator,” controlled respectively by Konstantin Zhevago and Konstantin Grigorishin, have been in bankruptcy proceedings for the past few years.
“The Ukrainian Exchange was founded on May 15, 2008 by the leading participants of the Ukrainian securities market together with the Russian Stock Exchange RTS, which later merged with the Moscow Exchange. UB was the first to launch an order market, Internet trading, repo market, central counterparty settlement and futures market. However, in mid-July 2018, the exchange suspended trading in all securities in a no-address order mode due to a ban on the use of Moscow Exchange software in its operations.
In March 2019, UB announced that it would resume trading in the bid market on a new platform.
The exchange is currently among the three largest securities traders on the Ukrainian market.
Representatives of Ukrainian agrarian business are asking President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal not to allow the merger of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry for Strategic Industries into a single executive body – the Ministry of Economic Development of Ukraine.
According to the web-site of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), agricultural sector is vital for the country’s economy, and therefore it is logical and necessary for business and society to have a specialized central authority responsible for the development of agricultural policy, restoration of the agricultural sector after the war, ensuring the volume of agricultural production and supply of agricultural products to the world markets.
According to her data, besides UCAB, the appeal was also signed by the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Forum, the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Rada, the Union of Poultry Farmers of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation.
“Ukraine is a state with a multiform economy, and agriculture and agribusiness are vital for ensuring economic recovery, food security, stability of the national currency and social protection of the population. The weight of Ukraine’s agricultural sector has increased significantly since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. The role of Ukraine as an agricultural state is noted by the world leaders and organizations”, – stresses the appeal.
It is noted that agribusiness supports the creation of a government center, which will report to the prime minister and will coordinate strategies and programs to restore the Ukrainian economy.
“The abolition of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy will lead to negative consequences both in the agri-food sector and in the state economy as a whole, and will also cause concern of foreign partners and threaten the establishment of export supplies of Ukrainian food to countries in need,” the statement says.
UCAB also refers to international experience, according to which most countries with a developed agricultural sector have a separate central executive body responsible solely for shaping their agricultural policies. These include, in particular, the U.S., Canada, Turkey, almost all EU member countries (except Austria), which have authorities responsible solely for agriculture and food.
“Taking into account the above mentioned, the leading public associations of agroindustrial complex urge to take into account the opinion of the agrarian sector when optimizing the number of central executive authorities, ensuring the existence of one separate specialized body of state power of national level, which will be responsible for provision of food security and ensuring effective functioning of agrarian sector, especially in postwar period”, – points out the statement of agribusiness representatives.
As reported the day before Ukrainian media reported on the possible merger of Ministry of Agrarian Policy with Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Agrarian Policy to Ministry of Economic Development.
Thus, it was reported that at a meeting of President Zelenskyy with members of the government on November 8, a relevant concept of consolidation of ministries in Ukraine from 20 to 14.
Earlier, in June 2022, the media reported plans to merge the Ministry of Agrarian Policy with the Ministry of Economy into the new Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation by the end of 2022. It was also planned to generally reduce the number of ministries in the country from the existing 20 to 12.
In August 2019, the Verkhovna Rada merged the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the Ministry of Economy into the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture. However, in 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers reconstituted the Ministry of Agrarian Policy by canceling its merger with the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture and set the number of employees at 203, after which the Ministry again began to operate as a separate structure.
