Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Roman Leshchenko called the adoption of bill No. 2194 on amendments to the Land Code of Ukraine fateful, and the implementation of land reform will become a real indicator of changes for the better in the country. “Now the right to dispose land has been transferred to local communities finally and irrevocably. From now on, the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre is only a service organization, the most deregulated, with the elimination of corruption powers in land management,” he wrote on Facebook.
The minister said that bill No. 2194 provides for the reform of the management system in the field of land relations and the removal of artificial restrictions on economic activity to simplify access to land resources for the population and business; cancellation of unnecessary permits and duplication of checks of land management documentation; as well as introduction of independent control over land management documentation through public expertise or peer review.
According to him, other key points of the document are the provision of the status of public, open and public data to the information contained in the documentation on land management; integration and unification of land management, topographic, geodetic and cartographic activities; introduction of professional liability insurance for land management workers as an alternative to state control; reducing the cost of work and the length of time spent on the implementation of procedures related to land management; and reducing the risk of bribery and corruption.
“This is a historically fateful event, one of the most important laws in my life, which confirms the inevitability of land reform, for which I am responsible in our state,” the minister said.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada approved amendments to the Land Code and other laws to improve the management and deregulation system in land relations.
Estonian financial technology company SupplierPlus has launched a reverse factoring platform for supply chain financing in Ukraine and opened reverse factoring limits for Ukrainian companies in the amount of UAH 100 million.
As stated in the SupplierPlus report, the company expects that in 2021 the limit of factoring financing on its platform can range from UAH 500 million to UAH 1 billion.
“We hope that in the coming years this market [of factoring] will grow from today’s 0.2-0.3% of GDP to at least 5% and Ukraine will approach its Western partners in terms of trade finance development,” Chief of Party of the USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project Robert Bond said during the SupplierPlus conference on Wednesday.
It is indicated that the partners of the reverse factoring program are OTP Bank, MTB Bank, Agroprosperis Bank, Ternopil Dairy Plant (Molokia brand), Buchachagrokhlibprom, Gadz farm and Ramburs grain trader.
The company said that the factoring reform in Ukraine could close the gap of EUR 1.5-3.4 billion in the market for financing receivables in Ukraine.
SupplierPlus Group OÜ is a financial technology company that specializes in supply chain finance solutions. The group was established in Estonia in 2015 with the launch of the financial platform Inwise.co for paying bills in the P2P format.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 29/04/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of April 29
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
The Verkhovna Rada supported at first reading the amendments to Article 22 of the Law on advertising regarding the expansion of the law to electronic cigarettes and liquids used in them.
Some 284 MPs backed bill No. 4212, with the minimum required votes of 226.
The document provides for a ban on advertising of tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, liquids used in electronic cigarettes, advertising marks for goods and services, other objects of intellectual property rights, under which tobacco products, electronic cigarettes and liquids used in electronic cigarettes are produced.
The bill prohibits the placement on any other goods of images of tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, liquids used in electronic cigarettes, marks for goods and services under which tobacco products are produced (such as lighters and ashtrays).
It is also prohibited to sponsor television, radio, theater and concert, sports and other events using marks for goods and services, other objects of intellectual property rights, under which tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, liquids used in electronic cigarettes are produced.
According to the document, advertisements for electronic cigarettes and e-liquids should not contain images of popular people or approval of smoking or use of electronic cigarettes. Also, advertising should not give the impression that most people smoke or use electronic cigarettes.
According to an explanatory note to the bill, the ban on advertising of electronic cigarettes and the liquids used in them is aimed at preserving the health of the nation. The document is aimed at reducing the use of electronic cigarettes and the liquids used in them.
The mobile network operator Kyivstar in January-March 2021 increased its total revenue by 15% compared to the same period in 2020, to UAH 6.842 billion, according to a financial report of the company’s shareholder, the international Veon group.
According to data published on the official website of Veon, in the first quarter, Kyivstar increased its EBITDA by 15.3% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 4.658 billion. EBITDA margin grew by 0.2 percentage points (pp), to 68.1%.
Total operating revenue from mobile services rose by 14.9%, to UAH 6.357 billion.
According to the operator’s own report, Kyivstar accelerated the construction of high-speed data transmission networks, which resulted in a 24.3% increase in the number of 4G subscribers.
In turn, the use of mobile Internet per subscriber grew by 27.5%.
“We expect Kyivstar to continue to deliver double-digit revenue growth in the remainder of 2021,” Veon said in the financial report.
Veon said that Kyivstar’s 4G coverage in Ukraine reached 87%, (an increase of 10 pp year-over-year), and the penetration of 4G mobile communications in the operator’s network reached 38% of the total base.
The average revenue per user (ARPU) of mobile communications increased to UAH 82, or by 16.1%, the minutes of use (MoU) – by 5.1%, to 633 minutes.
The number of Kyivstar mobile customers in January-March decreased 1.15%, to 25.7 million.
“Kyivstar’s total mobile customer base showed a year-over-year decline largely due to the decline of second SIM cards in the market and lower gross additions during lockdown when the strict measures in 2Q20 resulted in the partial closure of Kyivstar stores and lower customer mobility,” Veon said.
Total operating revenue from fixed-line communication grew by 17.2%, to 451 million, broadband ARPU rose by 5.4%, to UAH 85. The number of broadband customers increased 11.5%, to 1.15 million.
Capex excluding licenses and leases (operational capex) increased by 11.7% year-over-year.
Revenue in the B2B segment grew by 6% in the first quarter of 2021, reflecting Kyivstar’s promotion of new digital solutions for its business customers and rapid growth in Big Data.
Veon said that digital adoption and usage have accelerated in the last twelve months. In Q1 2021, the number of MyKyivstar self-care users was at 2.7 million, up 76% year-over-year, while the Kyivstar TV service users increased to 414,342.
Kyivstar paid UAH 2.3 billion of taxes and duties to the national budget.
Kyivstar is a market-leading telecoms operator in Ukraine. It provides communication and data services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed-line technologies, including 3G.
The shareholder of Kyivstar is the international group VEON (earlier – VimpelCom Ltd.). The group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (New York).
