The volume of construction work performed in Ukraine in 2020 increased by 4% compared to 2019, while the growth rate in 2019 versus 2018, according to updated data, was 23.6%.
As the State Statistics Service said on Monday, in 2020 the volume of performed construction work amounted to UAH 199 billion.
According to the statistics, in December 2020, the volume of performed construction work increased by 8.2% compared to December 2019, while compared to November 2020, the figure increased by 49.6% (according to seasonally adjusted data, it decreased by 1.2%).
The State Statistics Service said that in 2020 versus 2019, an increase in the volume of construction work was observed only in the segment of construction of engineering structures the figure was 14.8% (in 2019 it was 27.7% versus 2018). At the same time, in residential construction, the decline in construction work was 18.5% (in 2019 an increase of 4.8% compared to 2018), in non-residential construction 2.7% (in 2019 an increase of 30.3% compared to 2018).
The share of new construction in the total volume of completed construction works was 36.1%, renovations 36.9%, reconstruction and technical re-equipment 27%.
In 2020, an increase in the volume of construction work was recorded in 11 regions of Ukraine. The largest increase in the indicator was observed in Khmelnytsky (by 58.3%, to UAH 6.47 billion), Odesa (by 45.8%, to UAH 27.9 billion) and Donetsk (by 35.6%, to UAH 10.1 billion) regions.
A decrease in the volume of completed construction work was recorded in such regions as: Kirovohrad (by 35.9%, to UAH 1.36 billion), Kherson (by 34.9%, to UAH 1.24 billion), and Zaporizhia (by 32.2%, to UAH 2.72 billion), as well as in other regions. In Kyiv city, the indicator decreased by 2.2%, to UAH 42.8 billion.
JV Poltava Petroleum Company (PPC) has accrued UAH 325.3 million in royalty for 2020, which was 57.5% of the 2019 figure (UAH 564.9 million), PPC said in a press release on Tuesday.
“Lower demand and falling prices for hydrocarbons led to a reduction in the company’s drilling program, which led to a decrease in production, and, accordingly, a decrease in rental income. So, in 2019 JV PPC counted UAH 564.9 million in royalty, which is almost twice more than in 2020,” the company said.
As reported, the company in 2020 reduced gas production by 15% compared to 2019 – to 238.9 million cubic meters, oil and condensate by 5%, to 45,600 tonnes.
At the same time, in 2019, PPC increased gas production by 55%, oil and condensate – by 41%.
Since the beginning of 2020, PPC has drilled three new wells, drilled two sidetracks and seven workovers.
JV Poltava Petroleum Company is a Ukrainian-British joint venture established in 1994 and is a subsidiary of JKX Oil & Gas Plc.
China opposes unilateral sanctions by foreign governments on Chinese enterprises and hopes that Ukraine will protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and investors, said Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“China as always opposes unilateral sanctions on Chinese enterprises by foreign governments. In the meantime, we ask Chinese enterprises to abide by laws when doing business overseas. We hope the Ukrainian side will uphold the legal rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and investors,” he said a press conference on Monday, the MFA’s website reports.
At the same time, the Internet edition of ZN.UA reported that on Monday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine received a note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, in which it expressed concern over the actions of Ukrainian authorities against Chinese investors in Motor Sich, in particular the use of sanctions against Chinese companies and their management.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, by decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), on January 29 imposed sanctions on Chinese citizen Wang Jing and related Beijing Xinwei Technology Group Co., Ltd; Beijing Skyrizon Aviation Industry Investment Co., Ltd (both are based in Beijing); Skyrizon Aircraft Holdings Limited (British Virgin Islands) and Hong Kong Skyrizon Holdings Limited (Hong Kong), which in recent years have been trying to implement the rights of PJSC Motor Sich shareholders, who are placed on the sanctions list of Ukraine.
According to the decision of the NSDC and Zelensky decree No. 29 dated January 28, 2021, the sanctions imposed for three years provide, in particular, the blocking of assets, restriction of trade operations, partial or complete cessation of the transit of resources, flights and transportation across the territory of Ukraine. Other restrictions include preventing the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine, a complete ban on transactions with securities of which they are issuers, and a ban on the purchase of enterprises in Ukraine. The list of sanctions also includes a ban on increasing the size of the charter capital of business entities in which sub-sanctioned persons own 10% or more, and cancellation of official visits, meetings, negotiations on the conclusion of contracts or agreements.
John Bolton, who at the time was National Security Advisor to then President Donald Trump, spoke about concerns of the United States about the sale of Motor Sich to Chinese owners during a visit to Kyiv at the end of August 2019. At the end of 2019, Chargé d’Affaires of the United States in Ukraine William Taylor said that the United States is counting on a new deal to attract an American or other investor to Motor Sich so that the enterprise is not sold to the Chinese buyer. According to Interfax-Ukraine, this issue was also raised during the visit of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun to Ukraine at the end of August 2020.
In addition, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Department of Commerce early January 2021 put the Chinese company Skyrizon on the Military End-User (MEU) List, cooperation with which requires additional permits. Chinese state-owned company Skyrizon has also been added to the economic blacklist, due to its desire to acquire and indigenize foreign military technology, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said.
PJSC Motor Sich is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of engines for aviation equipment, as well as industrial gas turbine units. It supplies products to more than 100 countries around the world.
From February 5, 2021, the Economy Ministry will start accepting applications as part of the distribution of the tariff quota for the import of raw cane sugar into Ukraine among importers.
As reported on the website of the Economy Ministry on Monday, the quota for the import of raw sugar in 2021 was set at 260,000 tonnes.
According to the State Statistics Service, in 2020, Ukraine imported 1,880 tonnes of sugar for $1.8 million, which is 39.2% and 9.8% more compared to 2019. Export of sugar from Ukraine in the past year amounted to 150,600 tonnes in quantity terms and $59.34 million in monetary terms, having decreased compared to 2019 by 30.3% and 36.4%, respectively.
According to the National Association of Sugar Producers Ukrtsukor, as of January 12, sugar production in Ukraine in the 2020/2021 marketing year amounted to 1.021 million tonnes, while the forecast for the entire marketing year was of 1.2 million tonnes, which is 15% less than in 2019/2020 marketing year. In this marketing year, 30 sugar factories operated in the country, which processed 7.7 million tonnes of sugar beet.
At a hearing on January 20, 2021, the Pechersky District Court of the Kyiv granted a petition of Ihor Kolomoisky in the case of a businessman’s claim against PrivatBank and other persons for humiliation of his honor and dignity and allowed him to demand the results of independent investigation by the detective agency Kroll Associates UK Limited from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).
According to a report in the unified public register of court rulings, the results include a printed report of financial forensic investigation and 15 annexes to it. The documents must be provided to the court before February 15.
Teamtrend Ltd., Trade Point Agro Ltd., Collyer Ltd., Rossyn Investing Corp., Milbert Ventures Inc. and Ukrtransitservices Ltd., which are allegedly owned or controlled by Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov, joined the respective petition.
At the same time, the Kyiv court of appeals on January 21, 2021 overturned the decision of the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv made on August 20, 2020 to protect the honor, dignity and business reputation of Kolomoisky and refute the information disseminated by Anders Aslund, former senior fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics (the United States) at the Yalta European Strategy economic forum in 2019.
The subject of the dispute, as indicated in the text of the document, was the following words: “The President should not meet with Kolomoisky. Only in court is it necessary to meet with the man who stole $5.5 billion…” and “…why is he not being tried?.. why is there no criminal case against the thief?.. because the thief stole too much?”
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of October 1, 2020, PrivatBank ranked first in terms of total assets (UAH 600.15 billion) among 74 banks operating in the country.
Ukraine plans to launch the remote sensing spacecraft Sich 2-30 (2-1) into Earth orbit by the end of 2021, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine Oleh Urusky has said.
As reported on the website of the Ministry for Strategic Industries of Ukraine, he announced this during a meeting with spacecraft developers and customers of satellite services.
“We should take all the necessary measures to ensure that this happens by the end of 2021, the year of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence. And this is quite realistic, provided that we work as efficiently as possible and this is an urgent need,” the press service quoted Urusky.
According to him, the presence of such a spacecraft will not only help solve a wide range of problems, both in the interests of the economy and law enforcement agencies, but it will also save budget money that is being spent today on the purchase of services provided by such spacecraft abroad.
The Ministry for Strategic Industries said that organizational and technical issues were discussed during the meeting, as well as projects for the creation of a constellation of satellites from Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and the Pivdenne (Yuzhnoye) Design Bureau were presented.
As a result of the meeting, the need to strengthen cooperation between the State Space Agency of Ukraine, Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and the Pivdenne Design Bureau on joint projects was noted, attention was focused on accumulation of all appropriate resources to solve the tasks in 2021, as well as on taking steps to launch into orbit of the third satellite PolyITAN-3, created by Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
“There is a paradoxical situation: Ukraine has a significant scientific and technical potential and practically everything in order to have its own constellation of spacecraft in an Earth orbit, however, unfortunately, there is no such constellation. Various reasons can be given in this regard, but the situation needs to be changed,” the deputy prime minister said.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the Concept of the national target scientific and technical space program of Ukraine for 2021-2025.
