Industrial production in Ukraine in May 2020 decreased by 12.2% compared to May 2019, while in April the decline was 16.2%, in March it was 7.7%, and in February 1.5%, the State Statistics Service said on Tuesday.
The authority said that with the adjustment to the effect of calendar days, the decline of industrial production in May was even slightly less – 11.7% compared to 16.7% in April.
The State Statistics Service said that in April of this year, industrial production in May increased by 4.9%, but, subject to seasonal adjustment by 2.8%.In the processing industry, from May 2020 to May 2019, the decline was 15.6%, in the mining industry and quarrying it was 8.9%, in the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning – 1.9%.
In general, in January-May this year, industrial production in Ukraine decreased by 8.7% compared to the same period last year, including in the mining industry and quarrying – by 6.6%, in the processing industry – by 10%, in the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning – by 6.9%.
As reported, industrial production in Ukraine in 2019 decreased by 0.5% compared to 2018.
Ukraine’s gross external debt by the end of March 2020 amounted to $120.33 billion, which is $1.41 billion, or 1.2% less than a quarter earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has said.
According to his data, in relation to GDP, the debt decreased from 78.6% to 76%.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) starting from June 26 will resume domestic flights in Ukraine.
The press service of the airline said on Tuesday that the first, in particular, flights are launched from Kyiv to Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Zaporizhia. In July, flights will start between Kharkiv and Lviv, Kharkiv and Odesa, Lviv and Odesa, as well as Lviv and Kherson.
According to the current schedule, flights from Kyiv to Lviv and Odesa are planned on June 26, from Kyiv to Kharkiv and Zaporizhia on June 29, as well as from Lviv and Odesa to Kyiv, and June 30 from Kyiv to Lviv.
In addition, ticket sales will also start for flights from July 1 to September 15 for the following destinations:
– Kyiv-Lviv (daily, except Sunday), Lviv-Kyiv (daily, except Saturday);
– Kyiv-Odesa-Kyiv (daily, 11 times a week);
– Kyiv-Kharkiv-Kyiv (daily, except Sunday);
– Kyiv-Zaporizhia (daily, except Saturday), Zaporizhia-Kyiv (daily, except Sunday);
– Kharkov-Lviv-Kharkiv (Tuesday, Friday, Sunday);
– Kharkiv-Odesa-Kharkiv (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday);
– Lviv-Kherson-Lviv (Monday, Thursday, Saturday);
– Lviv-Odesa-Lviv (Tuesday, Friday, Sunday).
The cost of tickets starts from UAH 500 for a one way ticket without baggage.
At the same time, the airline said that minor changes in the schedule are possible for some flights starting from July 16.
Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko predicts the commissioning of the state project of the Babyn Yar memorial complex in 2021.
“You know about the existence of the state project Babyn Yar, which is now being completed, and will be put into operation next year during the anniversary of Babyn Yar,” Tkachenko said on the air of ICTV on Monday evening.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) plans to resume flights to Georgia and Albania from July 1, 2020, and to other countries stipulated by the schedule before lockdown is introduced from July 15, if cancellation of entry bans is carried out according to preliminary arrangements between countries.
According to the company’s press release on Saturday, June 20, passengers are advised to review the requirements for entering the country of destination and the rules for returning to Ukraine before purchasing a ticket, as well as make sure that they have all the necessary approvals for the trip.
“If a passenger purchases a ticket to a country, rules of entry into which the passenger cannot comply with, the refund for an unused air ticket will be carried out according to the fare, but can last up to six months,” SkyUp said.
According to the airline’s data, since March 2020, SkyUp Airlines has received about 286,000 applications regarding compensation for tickets that were not used through the flight ban. However, passengers have already received EUR 13,186 and UAH 1.9 million of reimbursements, while some 4,700 passengers have issued promotional codes for a total of UAH 38.1 million.
The company also said that since the beginning of lockdown, their support service has been operating in the overloaded mode, that is, during all that time up to 13,000 applications were received daily. Therefore, due to the fact that it was physically impossible to process all of them within the period of three to five days, as under normal conditions, the time for feedback increased.
In order to resolve this issue, SkyUp is introducing the application processing automated system. This means that the passenger, after registering on the airline’s website in a personal online account, will be able to independently choose the type of reimbursement that suits him, and passengers who have previously applied for a refund, according to their wish, change the status of the application for a promotional code or transfer dates if, on a previously submitted application, a refund invoice has not been issued yet. Functionality will be available approximately in three weeks.
“The introduction of lockdown at the international level significantly affected the aviation in general, and SkyUp is no exception in this global crisis of air transportation. For us and for many airlines as well, that period made it impossible to fully perform operational activities. Therefore, we have neither the opportunity nor the economic means in order to immediately refund to all people who made the request. We understand the wish of passengers to return their funds as soon as possible. Now we need to be patient, because this process will take longer than usual. We will return the funds gradually,” the airline’s press service said, citing Director General of SkyUp Airlines Yevhen Khainatsky.
Almost half of Ukrainians note deterioration in the health system from the beginning of lockdown measures.
This is evidenced by the results of a study conducted by Active Group sociological company and presented at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Monday, June 22.
Head of Active Group sociological company Oleksandr Pozniy said that in particular, some 28.4% of respondents believe that with the beginning of lockdown the situation in the health system has deteriorated slightly, while some 21.4% of respondents believe that the situation has deteriorated significantly.
However, some 25.9% of respondents believe that with the beginning of lockdown the situation improved, while some 24.3% found it difficult to answer.
Pozniy said that some 34.6% of Ukrainians surveyed assessed the first stage of medical reform positively or generally positively, while some 46.4% of respondents rated the first stage of the reform more negatively or negatively.
The reform was assessed as positive one by respondents aged 30-39 years, while respondents over 50 years old gave the largest number of negative assessments to the first stage of medical reform.
According to Active Group, the survey was conducted by telephone interview on June 7-9. Some 1,236 respondents were interviewed in all regions of Ukraine, except for the uncontrolled territories and Crimea. The study is representative by age, gender and place of residence. The sampling error does not exceed 2.8%.
