Foreign trade turnover by the most important positions in Jan-Nov 2020 (export).
President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen recalled the difficulties with the launch of the production of vaccines against COVID-19.
“We all underestimated the difficulty for the industry of ramping up a complex mass vaccine production programme from nothing. I wish I had known that last autumn. I would still have been very pleased about the researchers coming up with the vaccine so much faster than predicted, but I would have warned that it could take several more months before it was available in large quantities,” she said in an interview with Die Zeit on Thursday.
Von der Leyen noted that delays in the terms of vaccinations are due to the EU’s careful approach to the vaccine registration process.
She stressed that at first, manufacturers could not fulfill large orders that were formed by different countries.
“Larger initial orders would have been impossible to honour – even if we had paid out billions extra for this. The current bottlenecks are due to the fact that producing a vaccine is extremely complicated and the start is often shaky. There is a limited supply of raw materials, supply chains for the completely new mRNA technology need to be established and, in addition, demand for these substances from all corners of the globe is extremely high,” Von der Leyen said.
She recalled that in early January, European countries faced a shortage of vaccines, so they increased their orders.
As reported, Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov left for to India to conduct direct negotiations with manufacturers on additional volumes of Oxford/AstraZeneca and NovaVax vaccines in 2021-2022 to the already contracted 12 million doses.
Structure of export of services for 9 months of 2020 (graphically).
Structure of import of services for 9 months of 2020 (graphically).
Almost half (46%) of Ukraine’s population see the need for an early presidential election and just over half (54%), for early parliamentary elections this year, according to the findings of a poll conducted by the Ukrainian Institute of the Future (UIF) on January 27-February 5. Corruption was the most cited reason (49%) for such negative attitudes, and unprofessionalism was cited by 27% of respondents, according to the findings unveiled at an Interfax-Ukraine press conference on Thursday.
Respondents in the west tend to see corruption as the main obstacle to development; in the east, unprofessionalism and outside control are seen as the biggest problem. Asked where their country is heading to, 74% said “in the wrong direction” and only 14% said the opposite.
A survey of confidence in statesmen and politicians showed 48% distrusting current President Volodymyr Zelensky.
If a presidential election were to be held this Sunday, he would be favored by 18.4% of respondents. That is a drop from 29.2% in June 2020.
On the other hand, his possible rivals Petro Poroshenko and Yuriy Boiko would fare worse, with 11.4% and 9.5%, respectively.
President Zelensky’s disapproval rating also dropped since June 2020. When asked “Which candidate would you not vote for under any circumstances?” 17.8% said the incumbent; the figures for Poroshenko, Viktor Medvedchuk, Boiko and Yulia Tymoshenko were 24.8%, 10.3%, 9% and 6.5%, respectively.
At the same time, Zelensky remains the most trusted politician, with 12% trusting him fully.
Were a parliamentary election held this Sunday, 15.8% of all respondents would vote for the Opposition Platform – For Life, 13.1% for Servant of the People (a significant drop from 27.1% since last June), 11.8% for European Solidarity, and 8.6% for Batkyvschyna.
At the same time, a survey of disapproval ratings of the parliamentary parties found that under no circumstances would 22% vote for European Solidarity, 17.8% for Opposition Platform – For Life, and 15.6% for Servant of the People.
Data suggest that confidence in local authorities was higher overall than in the central government. A quarter (26%) of respondents said their local authorities represented the interests of the population; 35%, the interests of local elites, and 27%, the interests of big business. The highest level of confidence was in mayors, at 48%.
The most trusted institution is the army (53%), followed by mass media (34%) and national police (31%). The least trusted were anti-corruption agencies: National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor (SAPO), 10% each, and the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court (8%).
When asked “What could raise the efficiency of authority?” 39% were inclined for its full reset with young and competent people with no experience in politics but in other areas. A third (34%) wants to see a strong leader, 19% want the current central government to be reinforced with new professionals and 17%, with experienced professionals who were in government before.
The face-to-face survey of sociopolitical sentiments was conducted among 2,400 respondents aged 18 and older by the UIF in conjunction with New Image Marketing Group in every region (except the temporarily uncontrolled territories).
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 19/02/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
