National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 10/12/19
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine has announced the selection of 15 technology startups that will represent Ukraine at the tenth global conference of entrepreneurs and investors Startup Grind Global 2020 in Silicon Valley. The tender will be held jointly with Startup Grind Kyiv (the official representative of the international startup ecosystem Startup Grind) with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program “Competitive Economy of Ukraine.”
“Mature startups who built the product can become participants in the program, they know firsthand what is profit and are ready to scale. To participate in the tender, startups need to fill out an online application form before 12:00 on December 16,” the ministry reported on the website.
The jury will review the online questionnaires received from startups from December 16 to December 19, 2019 and will select the 25 best from all over Ukraine for further live pitching and final selection.
Next, on December 19, 2019, a pitching session will be held, during which the jury will select and announce the 15 best startups, the winners of the contest, by voting.
The winners of the tender will receive a ticket to participate in the conference, an exhibition stand, promo participation in the conference and PR support of the organizers, as well as covering financial costs for logistics.
Startup Grind Global 2020 will be held in Silicon Valley in the United States on February 9-12, 2020. The event is attended by 300 teams from more than 125 countries, which present their products to 10,000 participants in the event.
Startup Grind Kyiv is the official representative of Startup Grind (the community has about 2 million of the best entrepreneurs in the world), has been holding regular events in Kyiv since 2014.
Kovalska Industrial and Construction Group plans next year to implement two partnership projects for the construction of A class business centers in the central part of Kyiv, Serhiy Pylypenko, the group’s director general, has said. “We see that office real estate is a segment in which there is a stable demand. Now, in partnership with two companies, we are considering two major projects in office real estate,” Pylypenko said during a press breakfast, adding that the portfolio of projects for next year includes A class office real estate for 100,000 square meters in the central district of Kyiv.
He explained that both projects are currently at the stage of developing a concept and choosing an architectural company, and already in 2020 it is planned to begin its implementation.
“This will be construction from scratch. The first office complex (four to five buildings) will have a total area of about 60,000-70,000 square meters and the second is two office buildings of 12,000 square meters. One of them we want to implement according to the LEED Silver green building standards,” the Kovalska Group CEO said.
As reported, Kovalska is at the final stage of purchase of a land plot in Lviv region, where it plans in the second quarter of 2020 to build a plant for the production of dry construction mixes with a design capacity of 120,000 tonnes per year. In general, the work can last about two years, but the group intends to complete them by the end of 2021. The preliminary project cost is estimated at $15-20 million.
Ukraine in January-November 2019 imported 7.676 million tonnes of petroleum products (according to foreign trade activity code 2710, petrol, diesel fuel, fuel oil, jet fuel, etc.), which is 3.6% more than in the same period of 2018.
According to the State Fiscal Service, petroleum products were imported in the amount of $4.844 billion, which is 4.9% less than in January-November 2018.
Fuel imports from Belarus amounted to $1.849 billion (a share of 38.17%), Russia to $1.708 billion (35.27%), Lithuania to $556.498 million (11.49%), from other countries to $730.585 million (15.08%).
In addition, in the 11 months, Ukraine exported 498,915 tonnes (21.6% more compared to January-November 2018) of petroleum products for a total amount of $247.255 million (up by 6.5%). The cost of fuel delivered to contractors from Greece amounted to $53.646 million, Latvia some $31.914 million, Hungary some $28.333 million, and from other countries some $133.362 million.
The Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade has decided to introduce antidumping duties on imports of bars made of carbon and other alloy steel originated from Belarus and Moldova. According to a report of the commission published in the Uriadovy Kurier government’s newspaper on December 6, the final antidumping measures are introduced for five years.
Zero final antidumping duties are imposed on OJSC Belarusian Metallurgical Plant – the managing company of Belarusian Metallurgical Company holding (OJSC BMZ) and CJSC BMZ-Baltic Trading House (Lithuania), an exporter of carbon and alloy steel bars manufactured by OJSC BMZ.
For other manufacturers and exporters of goods originated from Belarus, a duty of 31.08% is introduced.
For OJSC Moldavian Metallurgical Plant (MMZ, Moldova), the duty is set at 13.80%, for other manufacturers and exporters of goods originating from Moldova – 35.37%.
The final antidumping duty is charged as a percentage of the customs value of the goods.
The decision of the commission comes into force 30 days from the date of its publication.
Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached agreement on a new cooperation program in a telephone conversation between Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and IMF Managing Director and Chair of the Executive Board Kristalina Georgieva, the press service of the head of state reported on Sunday.
“The IMF head praised the new [Ukrainian] administration’s economic achievements and the progress in the introduction of reforms made by the government led by Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk. The sides noted following the discussion that Ukraine and the IMF had come to the Staff Level Agreement on a new cooperation program,” the press service said.
Zelensky said that he and Georgieva had a very constructive discussion.
“I am glad that we have reached full understanding and our turbo-mode has been praised by the IMF. I am grateful to the Parliament, the Government and our entire team for their tireless work for the sake of Ukraine. The new program of cooperation with the International Monetary Fund aims to accelerate economic growth, actively eradicate corruption and improve well-being of every Ukrainian,” the president’s press service quoted Zelensky as saying.
The head of state said that Ukraine is not satisfied with the current rate of economic growth, therefore, in order to accelerate economic growth, “we, together with our international partners, will continue reforms to catch up with our neighbors in terms of economic development and prosperity.”
According to the press service, Georgieva said that she commended the extraordinary progress that Zelensky and his government have made over the past few months in promoting reforms and continuing reasonable economic policy.
“I assured the President of the IMF’s readiness to support the political plan of the government for macroeconomic stability and boosting the economy to higher, sustainable and comprehensive growth, among other things, with new IMF support. IMF staff has reached an agreement with the authorities on a policy of supporting a new three-year arrangement in the amount of four billion Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) within the IMF Extended Fund Facility,” Georgieva said.
According to a statement of Georgieva on the website of the IMF, this agreement is subject to IMF management approval and to approval by the Executive Board.
“I was pleased to note that IMF staff has reached agreement with the authorities on the policies to underpin a new 3-year, SDR 4 billion (about $5.5 billion) arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility. This agreement is subject to IMF management approval and to approval by the Executive Board, and effectiveness of the arrangement will be conditional on the implementation of a set of prior actions,” she said.
She said that the Ukrainian President and she agreed that Ukraine’s economic success depends crucially on strengthening the rule of law, enhancing the integrity of the judiciary, and reducing the role of vested interests in the economy, and that it is paramount to safeguard the gains made in cleaning up the banking system and recover the large costs to the taxpayers from bank resolutions.
