Retail sales in Germany fell by 5.4% in April compared to the previous month, according to the country’s Federal Statistical Agency (Destatis).
The rate of decline was the highest in the last year. Analysts polled by Trading Economics had, on average, expected a much smaller decline of 0.2%.
In March, the indicator decreased by 0.1%.
The reason for the accelerated decline in sales, experts say inflation, which has a negative impact on consumer spending. Food sales fell a record 7.7% last month. Sales of non-food products decreased by 4.4%, including clothing and footwear – by 4.3%.
Meanwhile, online and mail-order sales increased by 5.4%.
Retail sales in Germany in April compared to the same month last year decreased by 0.4% (after a decrease of 2.7% in March). Experts predicted growth by 4%.
Bulgaria is resettling Ukrainian refugees from resort hotels by the sea to buffer centers in the cities of Sarafovo and Elhovo for further placement in other places of temporary accommodation in the interior of the country, according to the Bulgaria for Ukraine portal.
“We are ending the integration plan for the resettlement of refugees in the interior of the country, with which we sought to meet the needs of the people. All persons who are in hotels and say that they have nowhere to go will be temporarily placed in buffer centers in Sarafovo and Elhovo,” the source was quoted as saying. in the message, Deputy Prime Minister for Effective Public Administration of Bulgaria Kalina Konstantinova.
According to the new plan of the National Headquarters, all Ukrainian refugees will be temporarily placed in buffer centers before being resettled in places of temporary accommodation.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the authorities are currently determining the exact number of Ukrainians who have lost their homes at home and intend to take advantage of temporary asylum in Bulgaria.
“I urge those of you who do not need asylum to declare it now. This is the only way we can immediately take care of people who really need it,” Konstantinova stressed.
At the same time, persons who have refused humanitarian resettlement still have the right to free residence in Bulgaria until February 24, 2023, social benefits, the right to work and treatment.
As reported, Bulgaria’s new humanitarian program provides for the resettlement of refugees in lower-class housing, family hotels and guest houses. According to the certificate in the system of the Ministry of Tourism of Bulgaria, the possibility of accommodation in places 1 and 2 stars is 175 thousand beds.
Source: https://ukraine.gov.bg/
The Verkhovna Rada has established a holiday on July 28 – the Day of Ukrainian Statehood.
The adoption of relevant bill No. 5864 was supported by 257 deputies at the plenary session on Tuesday, member of the parliamentary faction Holos Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on his Telegram channel.
The bill provides for amendments to Article 73 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, adding a new paragraph to establish July 28 as the Day of Ukrainian Statehood as a holiday.
As reported, on August 24, the Independence Day of Ukraine, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced the introduction of a new Ukrainian holiday – the Day of Ukrainian Statehood, which will be celebrated on the day of the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine, and signed a corresponding decree. Text of Decree No. 423 was published on the website of the head of state, it states that the Day of Ukrainian Statehood will be celebrated annually on July 28.
On August 25, the Head of state submitted to Parliament bill No. 5864 on the establishment of a holiday – the Day of Ukrainian Statehood.
The EU is working on the creation of solidarity lines for the export of grain from Ukraine, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said.
She has said that 20 million tonnes of wheat are stuck in Ukraine and must be taken out. Therefore, they have created and are working hard on solidarity lines that will make it possible to take out batches of this wheat through land routes and trains to their ports. This is not trivial and, of course, more tiring and more expensive, but it is necessary to take this grain out, von der Leyen said at a press conference following the Special Meeting of the European Council in Brussels on Tuesday.
Alexey Blinov, head of the analytical department at Alfa-Bank, expects the stabilization of the hryvnia card rate for individuals in June and the preservation of the rates of exporters and importers.
“For June, we can predict the preservation of the rates of exporters and importers. As for the bank cash market for individuals, it has more or less stabilized and I don’t think that there will be such jumps that we saw this spring,” he said during the Finclub round table on Tuesday .
His opinion was shared by associate expert of “CASE Ukraine”, ex-deputy director of the financial stability department of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Yevhen Dubogryz, who also noted the stabilization of the exchange rate compared to the jumps observed in the spring.
“It seems to me that we will have a creeping devaluation. Even if the NBU weighs this, there is still pressure on the hryvnia, since we have a war, problems with exports, with the fact that we do not receive the amount of funds from our partners, which we are very necessary,” the expert said.
He noted the existence of a small issue of the hryvnia, which affects inflation not directly, but through inflationary expectations.
“Over time, the NBU will change the course, of course, in the direction of the dollar’s rise in price,” Dubogryz pointed out.
As reported, on February 24, the National Bank suspended the work of the foreign exchange market of Ukraine, except for the sale of foreign currency, and fixed the exchange rate at the official level of that day – UAH 29.2549/$1, which led to the emergence of a “black” market, where in the first days the exchange rate reached 39-40 UAH/$1.
Later, the regulator allowed the sale of currency in branches under the threat of capture by the occupiers, by decision of their management, and from May 21, it canceled the upper limit of both the rate of selling cash currency by banks in Ukraine and the rate of converting the hryvnia into foreign currency on their cards outside the country. Previously, the ceiling for such an exchange rate was the official hryvnia exchange rate fixed on the first day of the war plus 10%, or UAH 32.18/$1. The ceiling for other currencies was calculated at the cross rate against the dollar.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says that Ukraine expects to join the common customs area with the European Union within a month.
“We are grateful for the provision by Slovakia of extremely needed military assistance and for humanitarian assistance, which covers almost all areas,” Shmyhal was quoted by the government press service as a result of a meeting in Kyiv with President of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Chaputova on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister noted that Ukraine expects to become a full member of the European family.
“Slovakia is one of the largest advocates of Ukraine in the European Union. We appreciate the initiative to unite with our friends to advance the granting of Ukraine the status of an EU candidate. We are grateful for such support,” he said.
The Prime Minister stressed that Ukraine has fulfilled more than 70% of the Association Agreement with the EU.
“We have an ambitious goal of joining the NCTS, the Common Customs Space, within a month. We are ready for all challenges and Denis Shmigal is ready.
Chaputova, for her part, noted that Slovakia had a recent experience of integration into the EU and her country would support Ukraine on this path.
