Dynamics of balance of payments of Ukraine (USD mln).
Two container trains from China passed the station Kyiv-Lisky in January 2021, another train is on the way, the press service of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia said on Wednesday.
According to the company, in January 2021, a total of 14 trains passed across Ukraine in the direction of China-EU countries (seven in the direction of Poland, six to Hungary, and one to Slovakia).
As reported, 22 container trains from China arrived in 2020. Over the past year, more than 425,000 containers in conventional units (TEU) were transported across the territory of Ukraine, which was 10.7% more than in 2019.
PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) in 2020 reduced investments in labor protection by 24.4% compared to the previous year, to UAH 380.7 million from UAH 503.4 million.
According to a press release from the enterprise, the company continues to invest in improving working conditions, providing workers with special clothing and footwear, personal protective equipment, as well as implementing measures to reduce injuries and increase the level of industrial safety.
At the same time, it is specified that last year the company registered 34 lost time injuries among its own personnel and contractors. Of these – three fatal accidents (two with the plant employees and one with an employee of the contractor). The overall accident rate in the plant for 2020 (including subsidiaries in Ukraine) was 0.61. The injuries were predominantly associated with the falls of the victims. In the second place is the exposure of workers to high temperatures, as well as injuries as a result of the action of moving, flying and rotating parts, equipment parts and objects.
Most of the injuries occurred for organizational reasons – violation of labor and production discipline. Some 38% of injured workers are not new to production, their work experience in the profession is more than 10 years. The cause of injury is in performing habitual actions with reduced attention during work. Some 24% of injuries occur among young workers with up to 1 year of work experience in production.
From September 22 to September 25, 2020, TMS certification organization conducted an audit of the plant’s labor protection management system for compliance with the requirements of international standard ISO 45001: 018, as a result of which the company received a certificate of conformity.
Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (NFP, Dnipropetrovsk region) in 2021 plans to increase the investment program by 5.7% compared to the previous year, to more than UAH 317 million from UAH 300 million.
“In 2021, we plan to raise more than UAH 317 million, which will be allocated both for the implementation of system programs and new projects,” Deputy Chief Engineer for investment activities at Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant Valeriy Honcharov said in an interview with the Electrometallurg corporate newsapaper.
“The plant’s development program for 2021 is a continuation of the 2018-2020 strategy. It focuses on funding for the completion of long-term measures in 2020, the implementation of short-term measures for problem areas, the continuation of the implementation of measures aimed at energy saving and additional profit, as well as a set of measures for IT development,” Honcharov said.
In addition, the program for including a metallized slag sampling device, a magnetic separation unit in the production stream, as well as a project to manufacture and replace a bucket conveyor at crushing and sorting complex No. 2 will be continued.
As part of the obligations under the environmental program, the plant will continue the reconstruction of a number of gas purifiers, as well as begin designing the reconstruction of gas purifiers at the head parts of sintering machines No. 1-4 with the installation of bag filters, Honcharov said. According to him, it will be a large and long-term project, planned until 2027.
The purchase of heavy equipment will be continued. It is also planned to implement a project to install a transport control system for diesel locomotives and vehicles.
As part of the modernization of the plant’s systems in 2021, it is planned to allocate about UAH 11 million for the IT development of the plant. Also this year it is planned to introduce a car labeling system.
“In general, the implementation of investment measures in 2021 will ensure the production of ferroalloys in the required volumes and continue the course to maintain the state of the main facilities of the enterprise with improved technical and economic indicators, as well as, if necessary, increase the production and shipment of finished products,” the deputy chief engineer said.
The pharmaceutical company Pfizer will soon provide documents for registration of a vaccine against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Health, Chief Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine Viktor Liashko said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Friday.
“Yesterday we had a telephone conversation with Pfizer headquarters. We were assured that all documents for vaccine registration in Ukraine will be submitted in the near future. The vaccine will be used only after registration,” he said.
Liashko recalled that vaccination in Ukraine would be free and voluntary.
“Vaccinations will be carried out by mobile teams, consisting of two nurses, a doctor, a registrar and a driver. They will provide organized professional teams [medical institutions, social institutions, and military units] with vaccinations at the first stage […] From February 5, we start medical trainings for doctors and regional coordinators to ensure logistical and coordination cooperation between the national, regional and vaccination rooms,” the deputy minister said.
At the same time, he said that the country had the necessary capacities for storing vaccines.
“We have capacities for storing vaccines with a temperature regime of minus 80 degrees Celsius and a temperature regime of plus 2 degrees Celsius. As for the latter, the state-owned enterprise Ukrvaktsyna can store about 30 million doses of vaccines. There are 25 warehouses at the regional level where it is possible to store the three-month need for vaccine. In addition, there are 490 district storage points and refrigeration equipment at vaccination points. We will closely monitor that the cold chain is observed,” Liashko said.
“At the same time, we have submitted an application to the European Investment Bank and we want to update all the refrigeration equipment in the vaccination rooms – even the one used for routine immunization,” he said.
Liashko said that citizens of Ukraine who are in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea will also be provided with access to free and voluntary vaccination at vaccination points, which will be located in the territory controlled by Ukraine.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has raised the e-limit of investments abroad for individuals from EUR 100,000 to EUR 200,000 per year, the press service of the regulator has said.
The corresponding changes were approved by the decree of the NBU board of February 3, 2021 (No. 14), which was posted on the National Bank’s website and comes into force on February 5.
The report specifies that the e-limit has been increased for investments abroad, placing funds on their own foreign accounts, transferring funds under a life insurance contract and providing loans to non-residents.
“This decision in the direction of currency liberalization will not have a significant impact on the functioning of the currency market of Ukraine, including taking into account the fact that individuals have been able to buy non-cash foreign currency for more than a year without any obligations and grounds,” the press service said citing Deputy Governor of the NBU Yurii Heletii.
He noted that in 2020, individuals within the e-limit transferred about EUR274 million abroad, which is less than the average daily trading volume in the interbank foreign exchange market.
The NBU recalled that the complete removal of the e-limit for individuals to make investments abroad is one of the priorities of the National Bank, provided for by the roadmap of currency liberalization. At the same time, the regulator indicated that this will become possible only after the final adoption and implementation of a package of bills to counter BEPS (base erosion and profitshifting).
As reported, since December 18, 2019, the National Bank has increased the annual e-limit on individual foreign exchange transactions by individuals from EUR 50,000 to EUR 100,000 per year.
