Five Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies are ready to produce medicines that have been proved to be effective in combating the symptoms of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Head of the parliamentary committee for health of the nation and medical insurance Mykhailo Radutsky has said.
“Now all legal grounds are being made for Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturers to start producing medicines that are used in other countries, but there is great shortage and high cost of such medicines. Today, this is a problem not only in Ukraine,” Radutsky said on the Ukraine 24 television channel on Thursday.
The MP said that there are already pharmaceutical companies capable of producing such medicines, for these companies the Health Ministry is preparing legal grounds for the production of such medicines.
“In Ukraine, five plants have already agreed to produce these medicines, but before that they need legal support. Now, the Verkhovna Rada along with the Cabinet of Ministers is preparing resolutions and legislative acts to allow these medicines production,” the head of the parliamentary committee said.
The Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) has pointed out a large growth in addresses of enterprises, which are trying to explain their ordinary problems and the non-performance of obligations by force majeure, although after analyzing documents the Chamber decides not to issue force majeure evidence certificates to them.
“We consider unacceptable attempts by a large number of entrepreneurs and enterprises that try to invoke force majeure circumstances to avoid obligations to partners – be it a Ukrainian or foreign business or individuals. In these cases, we refuse to issue force majeure evidence certificates,” the press service of the UCCI said, citing President of the UCCI Hennadiy Chyzhykov.
According to the press release, the UCCI analyzes the terms of the contracts in relation to liability for failure to meet obligations and the grounds for exemption from them, in particular, in the event of force majeure.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 06/04/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Zaporizhstal metallurgical plant, affiliated with Metinvest Group, topped the list of the largest recipients of VAT refunds in March 2020 with UAH 859 million, which is more than twice as much as in February (UAH 404 million).
According to the State Treasury Service, Zaporizhstal is followed by ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih mining and metallurgical plant, which increased its tax refund indicator from UAH 579 million in February to almost UAH 611 million in March.
At the same time, Kernel-Trade agro-exporter, the leader among VAT refunds recipients in February, worsened its result by almost 2.3 times and ranked third with UAH 473.5 million (UAH 1.075 billion in February).
The five largest recipients of VAT refunds also included Glencore Agriculture Ukraine enterprises with UAH 450.7 million (there were no data on reimbursement last month) and ADM Ukraine with UAH 405.7 million (UAH 428 million in February).
The companies are followed by AT Cargill with UAH 334.7 million (data were not available in February). Mariupol-based Illich Steel Mill, affiliated with Metinvest Group, almost halved its result to UAH 313.4 million, while in February it received UAH 604 million.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on April 1 transferred all the planned UAH 42.7 billion in profit for 2019 to the national budget, according to the regulator’s Facebook page.
“This year, in agreement with the Ministry of Finance, it was decided to transfer the entire amount of the National Bank’s profit to the state budget,” the report says.
It is clarified that in this way the regulator helps the government in overcoming the epidemic in the country.
As reported, state budget revenues in March 2020 amounted to UAH 87.8 billion, which is 10.4% less than the plan and 2.6% more than in March 2019. In addition, the general fund of the state budget received UAH 78.4 billion, which is 10.3% less than the planned figure.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the conditions for borrowing by the State Automobile Roads Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor), Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Vladyslav Krykliy said in his Telegram channel.
According to him, the funds will go to works at about 100 state-sustained building facilities.
“The interest-bearing bonds will be issued without making a public offer, the obligations under which are secured by the government. The conditions are the following: face value of one bond is UAH 1,000; interest income on bonds – 12.5% per annum and paid quarterly; bond circulation period – from one up to five years depending on its Series; the bonds is issued in five Series,” he said.
Krykliy said that this will restore roads, create jobs and stimulate contracting enterprises.
