Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, suggested that he hold talks in Budapest with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky, European media reported.
“The answer was yes, but the Russian president says he has certain conditions,” Orban was quoted as saying by the media.
According to them, Orban said that he also invited French President Emmanuel Marcon and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Hungary for talks.
In turn, Bloomberg reported that, in addition, during the conversation, the Hungarian Prime Minister spoke in favor of a ceasefire in Ukraine.
According to Bloomberg, Orban also said that he did not refuse cooperation with Russia in the nuclear field.
In addition, according to Euronews, when asked whether Hungary would pay Russia for gas in rubles, Orban replied that “paying in rubles will not be a problem for us.” “If the Russians want to be paid in rubles, we will pay in rubles,” the Hungarian prime minister said.
International partners will help Ukrainian operators to purchase the necessary equipment to upgrade communications in Ukraine.
As reported by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine in its Telegram channel, due to large-scale hostilities, the Russian invaders damaged the network of Ukrainian telecom operators, which left people in many settlements without access to the Internet.
“International partners will help operators purchase the necessary equipment to update communications in Ukraine. The first equipment will begin arriving in Ukraine in the middle of April. This is a completely volunteer initiative of volunteers who are making every effort to keep Ukrainians access to important information,” the Ministry of Digital Transformation said.
The project is implemented by the Global NOG Alliance initiative with the participation and support of the Ministry of Digital Development, industry associations of the Association of Copyright Holders and Content Providers, the Internet Association of Ukraine and DEPS.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation said that Ukrainian operators continue to provide services every day in regions where it is possible, and resume Internet access for Ukrainians.
“In order to help provide Internet to all settlements faster, we are launching the Keep Ukraine Connected project,” the ministry said.
EQUIPMENT, HELP, INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS, UPGRADE COMMUNICATIONS
Number of unemployed in Ukraine and job opportunities, Dec 20 – Oct 21
Since February 24, 2.5 million citizens of Ukraine have crossed the Polish border, according to the Polish Border Guard Service.
“Yesterday, on April 5, 21,000 travelers were registered, which is 13% more than the day before (18,500). Today, 4,700 had been issued by 07:00 with an increase of 23%,” the message posted on Twitter says.
Since February 24, 485,000 people have left Poland for Ukraine.
Housing construction is resumed in Kyiv: the first project in the capital, where construction and installation work was resumed, was the New England residential complex.
According to the press service of the developer of the Royal House project, starting from April 5, 2022, the construction team in New England began work on the Lincoln house (5th stage of construction), work on other houses of the complex will gradually resume.
The deficit of the consolidated balance of payments of Ukraine in February 2022 amounted to $1.5 billion, while in February 2021 the deficit was $28 million, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported on its website.
According to his data, the current account surplus in February 2022 amounted to $383 million, while in February 2021 the surplus amounted to $134 million.
The NBU also reported that exports and imports of goods in February increased by 31.1% and 30.7%, respectively.
The main factor in the growth of export volumes to $5.4 billion was the growth of food products by 40.7%, due to the growth in grain exports (by 1.8 times). There was also an increase in exports of ferrous and non-ferrous metals – by 31%, chemical industry products – by 42.4%, wood and wood products – by 14.4%, industrial products – by 1.5 times and engineering products – by 1, 5 times.
At the same time, exports of mineral products (including ores) decreased by 15.8% in February.
The volume of imports of goods for the specified period increased to $6 billion, including energy imports – 1.6 times due to the import of oil products and coal, and non-energy imports – by 24.2%. In particular, imports of industrial products increased by 1.1%, by 22.4% – engineering products, by 3% – food products, by 31.8% – ferrous and non-ferrous metals, by 27.5% – chemical industry products, and wood and wood products – by 28.8%.
In addition, according to the National Bank, the surplus in trade in services in February 2022 increased to $453 million from $298 million in February 2021.
The surplus in the balance of primary income in February 2022 amounted to $83 million (in February 2021, the deficit was $5 million). Receipts under the item “remuneration” decreased by 4%, and payments on income from investments – by 14.9%.
Net lending to the outside world (total balance of the current account and capital account) in February last year amounted to $386 million compared to $136 million in February of the previous year.
Net outflow from the financial account was $1.9 billion (February 2021 net outflow was $164 million), driven by an outflow of funds from private sector operations.
The net outflow from public sector operations amounted to $476 million (in February 2021, an outflow of $155 million). Net payments to non-residents on government bonds amounted to $240 million, on Eurobonds – $112 million, and on loans to international partners – $108 million.
The NBU estimated the net inflow of foreign direct investment at $57 million, while in February of the previous year this figure was $153 million.
As the regulator pointed out, the net reduction in the external position of the country’s banking system in operations with portfolio and other investments amounted to $210 million. It was due to a decrease in the external position in the “currency and deposits” item by $255 million.
The external position of the real sector (excluding foreign direct investment) in February 2022 increased by $1.9 billion. It was due to an increase in net external debt on trade loans by $776 million, an increase in cash outside banks by $973 million, a net increase in debt on loans and borrowings for $26 million.
As of March 1, 2022, the volume of international reserves amounted to $27.6 billion, which provides import financing for 3.8 months.
As reported, the consolidated balance of payments of Ukraine in 2021 was reduced to a surplus of $487 million, which is 4 times less than in 2020. The current account deficit of the balance of payments amounted to $2.1 billion, while in 2020 there was a surplus of this indicator in the amount of $5.3 billion.
