Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

UKRPOSHTA PLANS TO ATTRACT EUR 100 MLN IN OCT FOR BUILDING CENTERS

Ukrposhta expects to sign an agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) in October to raise a EUR 100 million loan for the construction of new sorting centers.
“I really hope that on October 1 we will sign the first EUR 100 million agreement in the history of Ukrposhta for the construction of a new logistics network with the EBRD and the EIB and, in fact, we will start building a new Ukrposhta,” its CEO Igor Smelyansky said on the air of KSE Business Transformation Week “Transformational Leaders. Public Sector.”
He also recalled that Ukrposhta built the last sorting center in 1980 and noted that it is very difficult to compete with the market players such as Nova Poshta using such outdated equipment.
At the same time, according to Smelyansky, despite the quarantine, the company continues to grow in the volume of services provided.
As reported, in the spring, Ukrposhta hoped to attract EUR 100 million for the construction of new sorting centers by summer. The company later clarified to the Interfax-Ukraine agency the funds raised are planned to be used for the design and construction of three or four terminals, as well as for the automation of about 30 depots.

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STATE-RUN NAFTOGAZ IMPLEMENTS ETRM SYSTEM

Naftogaz has begun pilot operation of the energy trading and risk management system (ETRM).
“This product accelerates business decision making by creating a unified database of counterparties, contracts and agreements and real-time data exchange between the functions of front, middle and back offices, as well as security, compliance, risk management and financial control. This helps increase efficiency, transparency and control over gas trading operations, as well as improve the management of commercial risks and the quality of management decisions,” the statement says.
Naftogaz notes that thanks to the introduction of this system, it takes 15-20 minutes to negotiate a contract for the sale or purchase of gas, while earlier this required several days and about 20 signatures.
The TRMTraker system from Pioneer Solutions LLC was chosen to implement ETRM. Subsequently, the ETRM solution can also be introduced for trading in electricity, oil and petroleum products.
“Now Naftogaz Commerce can systematically analyze the risks of trading positions and accelerate the support of signing transactions, and at the subsequent stages of implementation analyze settlements with counterparties and simulate the state of the gas portfolio subject to changes in prices, exchange rates, volumes of gas production and consumption,” the company said.

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ZELENSKY CALLS FOR MAINTAINING 5% TAX RATE FOR IT EMPLOYEES

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky calls for maintaining the tax rate for IT employees at 5%, the President’s Office website reports.
“This industry in the country is developing not due to the state support, but due to the intelligence of Ukrainians. One of the steps that the state can take is not to increase the tax burden on this industry,” the president said at a meeting with representatives of IT business in Lviv within a working trip to the region.
Zelensky noted that at present it is one of the few professions that can not only ensure a decent standard of living, but also reform the state and help combat corruption.
“It is with digital that we can implement any important reforms. And what everyone is saying: we need honest customs, honest law enforcement agencies, we need to overcome corruption – we all understand that the human factor is very difficult to fix. But digital and IT industry can do it,” the president said.
The President of the IT Ukraine association, Taras Kytsmey, added that the Ukrainian IT industry has prospects for development and maintaining such a tax rate will facilitate the influx of personnel from abroad and ensure the retention of talented professionals in Ukraine.

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UKRPOSHTA DELIVERS 100,000 HEALTHCARE PARCELS

JSC Ukrposhta delivered 100,000 healthcare parcels in four months.
“Just now – tomorrow it will be public information – we have delivered the 100,000th parcel with medicines for four months. That is, from scratch we have collected 100,000 parcels of medicines delivered home,” said Ukrposhta CEO Igor Smelyansky on the air of KSE Business Transformation Week “Transformation Leaders. Public sector” platform.
He also informed that during quarantine, Ukrposhta opened more than 30 new branches and there are plans to launch 500 movable offices in seven regions by the end of the year.
“For the first time in history of Ukraine I would like to digitize the whole country, so that in every corner of the country, even in yet many places lacking mobile communication – it would be possible to provide digital banking services or track AliExpress orders. And this will come true not ‘someday’, but next September, after launching the last of 2,500 movable offices and, thus, we will be able to provide all these services both online and offline,” he stressed.
As previously reported, on March 23 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution amending the license terms for the production, wholesale and retail trade and import of medicines (except for active pharmaceutical ingredients). According to the resolution, Ukrposhta, along with other postal communication operators, can deliver medicines and related products to consumers.

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UKRAINE STILL AWAITS $350 MLN TRANCHE FROM WB

Ukraine’s Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko has pointed to the delay in the $ 350 million tranche from the World Bank, in general expects to receive $700 million in two tranches, and is also finalizing the social support project.
“We expect them. On September 1, we made the largest payment of $2 billion and did it on our own, without financial support from international partners, which we expected. We are ready for different scenarios, but we count on the support of our international partners,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
The minister stressed that Ukraine expects to receive these funds this year, as this will allow timely financing of the accumulated expenses.
He explained that initially it was about $1 billion.
“At first we talked about $1 billion through DPL, but due to the significant burden on the World Bank budget due to the significant number of requests from all member countries, this amount was reduced to $700 million, and a separate social assistance project, which we are now finalizing,” Marchenko said.

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BASTION-GROUP STARTS ENHANCING KYIV CENTRAL BUS STATION

Bastion-Group LLC that privatized SE Kyivpasservis in May 2020 intends to start the wide-scale enhancing of the capital and regional bus stations.
According to Kyivpasservis Marketing Director Dmytro Ozhihov, Kyiv Central Bus Station is the first in line for enhancing.
“We have already received all legal permits and documents for enhancing Kyiv Central Bus Station, its plan and design are ready to be published soon,” Ozhihov said.
The private investor plans to create an international transport hub based on Kyiv Central Bus Station and develop a European bus service culture.
In the new bus station, it is planned to equip modern food courts, information boards throughout its territory, recreation areas, as well as a medical office to assist passengers and provide preliminary examination of drivers.
The new project of the bus station takes into account all the requirements for infrastructure use by disabled passengers.
In the future, it is planned to build a modern hotel for short time guests waiting for runs or staying overnight at the bus station.

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