The mobile operator Kyivstar has improved 4G geographical accessibility in 75 settlements of Kyiv region by installing new base towers operating at 900 MHz.
According to the Kyivstar press office, due to the construction of a new network, 14,000 inhabitants of small settlements of Polisky, Makariv, Ivankiv and Bila Tserkva districts of Kyiv region gained access to access to the high-speed mobile Internet services.
In order to increase the territory of the 4G network coverage in Kyiv region, the operator switched on 12 additional base stations operating at GSM-900 MHz.
Kyivstar also continues to increase its 4G coverage at the expense of other bands – 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands. Since the beginning of 2020, the operator has connected almost 6,000 settlements to high-speed mobile Internet using LTE technology.
During the time of developing LTE technology in Ukraine, access to high-speed mobile Internet from Kyivstar appeared in 15,000 settlements.
Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Ihor Petrashko considers it unlikely that the forecast for 2020 for the grain harvest in Ukraine will be revised downward.
“At the beginning of April, we forecasted… 72 million tonnes for grains. Now, assuming that wheat and sunflower harvesting has been completed, and corn harvesting begins, the forecasts, unfortunately, will be lower. We believe that there will be 68 million tonnes. Probably, there will be no more active revisions,” the minister said, answering a question from Interfax-Ukraine at a press conference held at the news agency on Tuesday.
As reported, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture lowered the forecast for the grain harvest in 2020 from 70 million tonnes to 68 million tonnes due to lower indicators for corn. Thus, the ministry predicts the corn harvest in 2020 at 33 million tonnes.
The European Union is ready to provide Ukraine with EUR 1.2 billion of macro-financial assistance, but for this it needs to constructively interact with the International Monetary Fund and fulfill the requirements related to the rule of law, said Josep Borrell, Vice President of the European Commission, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
He said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Tuesday that they are also ready to provide $1.2 billion in macro-financial assistance in order to help solve the problems associated with the economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but for this Ukraine needs to constructively interact with the IMF and also fulfill all those requirements that relate to strengthening the rule of law in Ukraine.
Ukrainian business has projected the cost of currency for 2021 at the level of UAH 29/$1, according to the Global Outlook study conducted by the European Business Association (EBA).
“They are projecting UAH 29/$1 in 2021,” EBA Executive Director Anna Derevyanko said, presenting the research results in Kyiv on Tuesday.
At the same time, 60% of the companies surveyed plan to leave the staff in the current composition, some 28% want to expand it, 12% – to reduce. At the same time, 54% plan to increase salaries for their employees.
Derevyanko said that the study showed that the need for judicial reform first topped the demands of business on the government, leaving the fight against corruption in second place. The need for political stability and good governance was third.
According to Derevyanko, 60% of the representatives of EBA member companies surveyed in the study have positive expectations regarding business growth in 2021, but last year there were 77% of them, and in 2018 there were 75%.
In terms of income growth expectations, 37% of those surveyed expect 10% income growth, and 28% project 10-20% growth.
The State Property Fund (SPF) is discussing the possibility of doubling the plan of privatization receipts in 2021, to UAH 12 billion, with the lawmakers and the government of Ukraine, Head of the SPF Dmytro Sennychenko has said.
“The plan, which has now been submitted in the government budget to the Verkhovna Rada for receipts from privatization in 2021, is set at [UAH] 6 billion. We are now communicating with members of parliament, the government and clarifying the budget indicators for next year. We will propose its increase … up to [UAH] 12 billion,” he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
Sennychenko said that the SPF has drawn up a list of facilities for privatization for the next year, which includes regional gas supply companies, the Bilshovyk plant and the United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC).
He said that at the start of the “coronavirus crisis” in March 2020, the Verkhovna Rada lowered the bar for budget receipts from privatization to UAH 500 million, specifying that in 2020 the SPF exceeded it. At the moment, proceeds from privatization are UAH 2 billion, and by the end of the year they are expected to reach UAH 3 billion, the head of the fund said.
“This [the amount of proceeds] will also depend on the necessary financing steps, because one hryvnia invested in the audit of the creation of technical documentation today gives us UAH 71 of budget receipts from privatization. The most important thing is not the funds received from the sale of a facility, the most important thing is the cumulative effect that a private investor gives after investing in the subsequent development of this facility,” he said.
According to Sennychenko, this year the SPF has held more than 1,400 auctions and prepared an “investment menu” for the next year “for every taste.”
Kazakh businessman Margulan Seisembayev, who was earlier introduced by the chief executive of Ukraine’s National Reform Council, Mikheil Saakashvili, as his partner in the operations of the Office of Simple Decisions and Results, has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and said that he would help Ukraine in implementing reforms.
“I met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today. Talked with him and his team for about an hour. I presented my offer on increasing the efficiency of the process of introducing reforms and legislation to him. He really liked everything. He said it is so important and necessary so they needed it yesterday. He asked me to accelerate. I promised to start working immediately. Therefore, I won’t be able to come to Kazakhstan soon. I feel I could get stuck here for a long time. The work is extensive, interesting and diligent,” he wrote on Facebook on Monday evening, having added a photograph from the meeting with Zelensky with Saakashvili’s participation to the post.
Seisembayev urged not to politicize his work. “I’m going to help Ukraine here. It has nothing to do with export of color revolutions or opposition activities experience. I’m doing what I love here, ensuring the efficiency of processes. It is a professional challenge for me. I introduced it many times in business and now I want to try introducing this into the work of the state system,” he said.
Seisembayev is a Kazakh entrepreneur, chairman of the Seimar company board in 1991-2009, Alliance Bank shareholder until December 31, 2009, resident of the Kazakh Chess Federation in 2007-2009.
On August 31, Saakashvili, who had previously announced the intention to create an international bureau for reforms in all former Soviet countries, introduced Seisembayev as his official partner in its initiative.
Saakashvili described Seisembayev as an ordinary guy from rural Kazakhstan who managed to create a “vast business empire” and became a multimillionaire and who has been “actively engaged in public work, in particular, reforms of the countries of the post-Soviet area” in the past few years. According to Saakashvili, Seisembayev’s area of responsibility would include increasing the efficiency of the process of introducing reforms and bills, as well as all international activities of the Office of Simple Decisions and Results.
