The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved the candidates for ministers of the new Ukrainian government proposed by newly appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal. Some 277 MPs voted in favor of the new composition of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The new composition of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is as follows:
Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Transformation Minister of Ukraine – Mykhailo Fedorov;
Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine – Vadym Prystaiko;
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine – Oleksiy Reznikov;
Social Policy Minister of Ukraine – Maryna Lazebna;
Interior Minister of Ukraine – Arsen Avakov;
Youth and Sports Minister of Ukraine – Vadym Gutzeit;
Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine – Vladyslav Krykliy;
Minister for Veterans’ Affairs of Ukraine Serhiy Bessarab;
Justice Minister of Ukraine – Denys Maliuska;
Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine – Oleh Nemchinov;
Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine – Oleksiy Chernyshov;
Health Minister of Ukraine – Illia Yemets;
Finance Minister of Ukraine – Ihor Umansky.
In the previous government of Oleksiy Honcharuk, which resigned on Wednesday, Fedorov was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Digital Transformation, Avakov was Minister of Internal Affairs, Krykliy was Minister of Infrastructure, and Maliuska was Minister of Justice.
Culture Minister Volodymyr Borodiansky will be replaced, for now, by one of his deputies as Acting Culture Minister, a Servant of the People parliamentarian, Yevhenia Kravchuk, said on Facebook.
“The office of Minister of Education is still vacant, there will be Acting Minister of Education,” she said.
The previous Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers, Dmytro Dubilet, will “remain in the team,” Kravchuk said.
The volume of the Ukrainian tile market in 2019 totaled 44 million square meters, the founder of the Golden Tile group (Kyiv), head of the supervisory board of PrJSC Kharkiv Tile Plant Valentyn Shevetovsky has said. “If the world has doubled the consumption of ceramic tiles over 10 years, then Ukraine, unfortunately, showed a downward trend. In 2008, Ukraine consumed 60 million square meters of ceramic tile, in 2019 – 44 million square meters. There is the objective reason: Crimea and Donbas. But tile consumption per person remains 1 square meter, although in the world it is 2 square meters on average,” he said during a video report on the company’s results and plans broadcasted on Facebook on Tuesday.
So, in the Ukrainian market there are six large enterprises producing ceramic tiles, including the new plant of the Epicenter K group of companies.
According to experts, in 2019, the Golden Tile ceramic group produced 15.3 million square meters of ceramic tiles, while occupying about 30% of the Ukrainian market. Atem Group produced 15.3 million square meters, and its market share was 29%.
“Cersanit produced 10.2 million square meters and occupies 20% of the market, Interkerama – 6 million square meters with a 13% share, Zeus – 2.4 million square meters. The Epicenter plant also worked and produced 1, 3 million square meters of ceramic tile, occupying 2.6% of the market, but this is not the full potential. We hope this year they will be able to reach full capacity and produce 6 million square meters,” Shevetovsky said.
The surplus of Ukraine’s consolidated balance of payments in January 2020 was $906 million, while in January 2019 the deficit was $68 million, according to preliminary data from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
The NBU said that the current account surplus of the balance of payments in January 2020 amounted to $590 million, which is 5.4% lower than the same indicator a year earlier ($624 million).
According to the central bank, the export of goods in the first month of 2020 increased 2.3% (in December 2019 by 1.4%) and amounted to $3.8 billion.
The main factor behind the growth of the indicator was an increase in the export of food products by 14.3% (in December 2019 by 15.7%) due to an increase in the export of grains by 21.9%, oils and fats – by 29.5%. In addition, the export of engineering products increased 33.9% (in December 2019 by 10.5%), as well as mineral products – 18.1% and chemical products –24.9%, whereas in December last year, these indicators decreased by 8.3% and 5.1%, respectively. At the same time, exports of ferrous and non-ferrous metals decreased significantly: 26.4% (in December 2019 27%).
Imports of goods in January 2020 decreased 1.7% (in December 2019 increased 7.9%) and amounted to $3.9 million.
Its reduction is due to a decrease in energy imports by 17.7% (in December 2019 by 14.3%), imports of ferrous and non-ferrous metals by 6.3% (in December 2019 by 1.8%) and chemical products – by 3.2%, whose import in December last year increased 6.3%.
At the same time, non-energy imports in January 2020 increased by 2.7% (in December 2019 by 13.8%), and the volume of import of engineering products decreased only 0.3%, while in December 2019 it increased 15.4%.
The situation with coronavirus should not considerably influence the Ukrainian grain export, as the demand for agricultural products depends on number of the population, which is growing, and it is less elastic than the demand for fuel, consumer goods or tourism services, acting Director General of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) Serhiy Ivaschenko has said.
According to him, since the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic in China, Ukraine has not yet felt on its part the decline in demand for cereals.
“However, it should be remembered that certain logistic restrictions, such as a ban on entering ports for ships that visited regions where coronavirus disease is detected, or credit restrictions due to the collapse of economies, can negatively affect international trade,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
Ivaschenko said that such physical and financial limits could well have a negative impact on the dynamics of Ukrainian agricultural exports.
“At present, oil and fuel producers are experiencing a drop in demand and prices amid expectations of a decrease in transportation. A slowdown in a large economy such as China will certainly have a negative impact on other economies. If effective methods of combating coronavirus are not found in the near future, then the consequences for all the economies of the world will be very negative – an economic crisis may begin,” he said.
At the same time, the expert added that a drop in international trade will lead to an increase in product stocks and lower prices for it in the domestic market of Ukraine, as well as a drop in export revenue and national budget revenues.
The UK supports the Ukrainian government in the reform process and looks forward to its continued fruitful work.
This was reported by British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons.
“We support the sustained efforts of the government of Ukraine to carry out comprehensive reform and we look forward to its continued fruitful work. Ministers and senior officials who want to take forward reform do and always will have our support,” she wrote on Twitter.
The spread of coronavirus in some cases can be recognized as force majeure, the consequences of which did not allow fulfillment of obligations under economic contracts, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine (CCI) Hennadiy Chyzhykov has said. “The CCI of Ukraine receives a large number of requests regarding the recognition of the spread of coronavirus as force majeure. The CCI very carefully approaches this issue and relies on international practice and the legal framework,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, Chyzhykov said that in general “coronavirus, like flu, is not a basis for evidence of force majeure.”
According to him, the basis for evidence of force majeure is the presence of one or more circumstances stipulated by law. Among them are such circumstances, including an epidemic.
In addition, force majeure circumstances may be determined by the parties in the text of the contracts.
“The presence of force majeure circumstances in the contracts such as an epidemic, an emergency situation in the healthcare sector or restrictive actions of the authorities, strengthens the position on the recognition of facts that do not allow the fulfillment of relevant obligations. But it is always necessary to provide evidence that it is coronavirus or measures to combat its spread that are circumstances that could cause the inability to fulfill obligations,” Chyzhykov said.
He also said that a party that refers to force majeure circumstances should contact the competent authority (the chamber of commerce and industry) of the country where these circumstances arose, and obtain the appropriate document (certificate), so that it can be presented to the counterparty according to terms of the contract.
