Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has passed at second reading bill No. 2241 with amendments to the Tax Code on the reduction of the amber production royalty from 25% to 10% from 2022, and by the end of 2020 the interim rate of 5% will be in effect and in 2021 – 8%. An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported that 290 MPs voted in favor of the corresponding bill with the required 226 votes.
“The committee at the meeting decided to take into account the proposals submitted by MPs regarding the reduction of the amber production royalty rate to 10% and temporarily set the royalty for the use of mineral resources for the production of amber until December 31, 2020 inclusively in the amount of 5%, until December 31, 2021 inclusive – at 8%. Thus, the 10% rate will be effective from January 1, 2022,” Deputy Head of the parliamentary committee on finance, customs and tax policy Oleksandr Kovalchuk said, presenting the document from the rostrum of the parliament.
An increase in the royalty from 5% to 25% in 2016 led to a decrease in budget revenues under this item, he said.
“Therefore, the proposed approach has a stimulating character for the legalization of amber production,” Kovalchuk said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed that $2.9 billion, which NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy received from Russia’s Gazprom as the execution of the award of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, are sent for the implementation of infrastructure projects and healthcare development.
“We plan to additionally provide funds for road construction. This is our infrastructure priority, other infrastructure projects, the medical sector and energy efficiency. Among the plans is to build more than 200 medical aid stations across Ukraine,” he said at a meeting with representatives of the Cabinet ministers and the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday, the press service of the head of state reported.
Zelensky invited the government to prepare the necessary draft documents within two weeks.
The first session of the Ukrainian-Czech Forum has opened in Prague, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vadym Prystaiko said.
“Together with [Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic Tomas] Petricek opened the first session of the Ukrainian-Czech Forum. On agenda – cooperation in counteracting hybrid threats, Czech experience of reforms and European integration. We are much more united than it seems. Perfect platform for discussions and future projects,” the minister said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Before that Prystaiko met with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis to discuss the implementation of the agreements reached during his visit to Ukraine in November 2019.
“Discussed realization of agreements with [President of Ukraine Volodymyr] Zelensky arising from his visit to Ukraine last November and the “reboot” of our political dialogue. We share many areas of mutual interest on which we can cooperate constructively,” the minister said.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has passed at first reading presidential bill No. 1017 amending Articles 76 and 77 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which proposes to reduce the number of Members of Parliament to 300 and elect them according to the proportional election system.
236 MPs voted in favor of the bill.
Epicenter K LLC (Kyiv), which is developing a network of eponymous shopping centers in Ukraine, plans to open 15 new Furniture Centers (Tsentr Mebliv) in its shopping centers in 2020, begin entering external sites and strengthen online sales. “The goal of the company is to increase its stake to 40% by the end of 2020. These plans are related to the new concept for the development of Furniture Centers. Thus, the Epicenter furniture business will significantly expand its assortment, improve client services, and will focus on turnkey solutions, in particular customers will be offered design interiors in different styles and budgets,” the company’s press service said.
According to the report, in 2019 the share of Furniture Centers in the Ukrainian market grew to 25%. During this time, ten new concept stores were opened in the Epicenter chain.
“In the new concept, much attention will be paid to inexpensive functional furniture of modern design that are interesting to young people,” Oleksandr Lukyanchenko, the director of the Tsentr Mebliv direction, said.
According to him, the company also relies on online sales.
“I’m sure that in the future online will be another growth point for us, because there we can present a much wider assortment, not limited by the length of the shelf in an offline store,” he said.
In particular, in 2019, the share of online furniture sales in the Epicenter network was 10%, the largest demand in online sales was recorded for kitchens.
The Chinese diaspora in Ukraine sent to Wuhan, the administrative center of the Chinese province of Hubei, which is the epicenter of the spread of the new type of coronavirus 2019-nCoV, a batch of medical masks, protective overalls, glasses and shoes, Xinhua News Agency has reported. “55,000 medical masks, 501 protective overalls, 747 pairs of goggles and 760 pairs of protective shoes will be delivered to the Chinese city,” the message said on Tuesday.
The agency also said Ukraine’s Tchaikovsky National Music Academy would transfer anti-epidemic protection to the Chinese province of Hubei.
“The decision to provide assistance to Hubei was made by the staff of the music academy, since we have a lot of Chinese students studying – over 200 people. In addition, China is our strategic partner, relations with which are very important for us,” Academy Rector Maksym Tymoshenko said in an interview.
According to him, the assistance provided to Hubei will include about 10,000 medical masks and overalls.
The Academy Development Assistance Fund and Confucius Music Center is also helping to purchase anti-epidemic protection products needed by the province because of the 2019-nCoV outbreak was also allocated by.
As of early Tuesday, a virus believed to have originated in Wuhan, China, claimed the lives of 426 people. Meanwhile, more than 20,000 in 27 countries have been infected.
