NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy and its member companies paid UAH 77.9 billion in taxes and fees to the state budget in January-July 2020 (including the balance of dividends for 2019), the company’s press service has reported.
According to the report, revenues from the group amounted to more than 17% of the total state budget revenues for the specified period.
As reported, NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy and its member companies paid UAH 121.4 billion in taxes and dividends to the state budget in 2018.
Naftogaz Ukrainy unites the largest oil and gas companies in the country. It is a monopoly for storing natural gas in underground storage facilities, as well as for transporting oil by pipeline across the country.
Kyivstar and 1+1 media note a 35% increase in activity on the Kyivstar TV platform in the first half of 2020.
According to the press service of the mobile operator, while the growth of the audience interest in January-March was gradual, the activity sharply increased by 20% in April.
The demand gradually returned to the pre-quarantine level in June and July.
According to the data provided, the main preference of viewers is given to national TV channels of general interest. The three leaders are 1+1, Ukraine, and ICTV. Among the thematic TV channels, the most watched are movie channels (TV 1000 Action, VIP Comedy, ViP Megahit HD), for kids (PLUS, Nick Jr., Nicktoons), and educational channels (Viasat History, Viasat Explore, Discovery Channel).
The video library of the platform includes 10,000 films and series among which the leaders in terms of viewing are Ukrainian-made films Black Raven and Swingers 2. Besides, such foreign films as The Secret Life of Pets 2, How to Train Your Dragon 3, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Faster, Suicide Squad became the most popular ones.
Among the TV shows and series, the leading content belongs to Ukrainian production: The World Inside Out, Daddy, Blind Marriage, Cat Trap.
“We are happy with the development of our common with 1+1 media product. If our colleagues are in charge of filling the platform with content, we provide our subscribers with the service of connection and configuration, unique advantages in the form of favorable tariffs, and promotional offers. Besides, during the quarantine period we opened access to all TV channels and VOD content to all users irrespective of the chosen tariff,” the press service quoted the head of Kyivstar fixed product and pricing unit, Serhiy Sukhoruk.
As reported, 1+1 media and Kyivstar launched the joint service Kyivstar TV with access for subscribers of any Internet providers in December 2019.
Ukraine since the beginning of the new 2020/2021 marketing year (MY, July-June) and as of August 12, 2020 had exported 3.995 million tonnes of grain and legumes, which is 1.1 million tonnes less (due to corn) than on this date in the past MY.
According to the information and analytical portal of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine, to date, 2.26 million tonnes of wheat (131,000 tonnes more), 1.23 million tonnes of barley (133,000 tonnes less) and 499,000 tonnes of corn (1.1 million tonnes less) had been exported.
As of August 12 of this year, 24,200 tonnes of flour had been also exported.
As reported, Ukraine exported a record 57.2 million tonnes of grain, legumes and flour in the 2019/2020 MY, which is 13.5% more than in the previous MY.
Kazakhstan will start resuming passenger flights to and from a number of countries on August 17, the Kazakh Industry and Infrastructural Development Ministry said on Wednesday. “Starting on August 17, 2020, there will be phased resumption of international flights to the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Belarus, Germany, the Netherlands, Egypt, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation,” the ministry said.
The decision was made on August 11 by the interagency commission for coronavirus response with due account of the epidemiological situation reflected by the World Health Organization (WHO)’s chart.
The ministry noted that Kazakhstan’s agreement with the aviation authorities of the aforesaid countries was “preliminary.”
“The aforesaid countries support the resumption of flights to and from Kazakhstan in compliance with sanitary and epidemiological requirements (thermometry, social distancing, masks, and PCR testing),” the ministry said.
‘Please note that flights to Russia will require permission from the Russian side,” it said.
The number of flights will be established on the basis of current intergovernmental agreements on air travel depending on the commercial load of aircraft on each of the routes.
Bus operator FlixBus launches trips on the route Kyiv-Warsaw, with stops in Zhytomyr, Rivne and Radom (Poland). According to the press service of the carrier, Kyiv-Warsaw buses depart from Kyiv at 16:00 on Wednesday and Saturday from the bus station Kyiv (32 Symona Petliury Street), at 15:30 on Tuesdays from Warsaw from the bus station Warszawa Zachodnia.
The company notes that all FlixBus lines have increased safety and hygiene standards. In particular, one must wear a protective mask in the bus, covering the nose and the mouth, and buses are disinfected in a professional way after each trip.
The carrier also reminds its customers to carefully check the rules of entry into the destination country.
In total, 11 FlixBus lines are currently operating in Ukraine: nine international (Odesa-Prague- Plzeň, Kyiv-Krakow-Prague, Kyiv-Warsaw, Kyiv-Vilnius, Kyiv-Krakow-Rostock, Kyiv-Cologne, Kyiv-Karlsruhe, Kyiv- Stuttgart, Kyiv-Budapest-Vienna) and three internal ones (Kyiv-Odesa-Zatoka, Kyiv-Lviv, Kyiv-Uzhgorod).
Two new industrial parks are to be opened in Dnipropetrovsk region, Head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Administration Oleksandr Bondarenko has told the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
“We have three potential sites. Preliminary agreements have already been reached upon one of them. There is an estimate of the cost of lacking utilities and a fully developed algorithm for opening and registering an industrial park. We know what type of business to invite to enter these sites. There is a list of 15-20 companies that are interested in launching production processes,” Bondarenko said.
A managing company will be identified in the near future, ensuring the project launch and ongoing management.
According to the head of the regional state administration, the technological cluster previously opened in Pavlohrad (Dnipropetrovsk region) has not yet been filled with production facilities, hence it is difficult to attract business to the park.
“When visited, it turned out that there were no proper utilities. It is difficult to attract business to launch production in the technological park, which is not connected to water, electricity, and sanitation services. The platform should be ready to host the business. It is one of the key functions of the technological park,” Bondarenko said.
He added that now the relevant parliamentary committee is considering a draft law providing for the increase of tax preferences for technological parks, in particular, the abolition of VAT and duties on import of raw materials and equipment into the territory of the industrial park, as well as profit tax for five years.
“Hopefully, in the fall, it [the draft law] will enter the session hall and will be adopted. Industrial parks are growth points for the economy. Their launch and the reconstruction of the airport, so that it would be possible to accept even the largest passenger planes, will bring the economy of the region to a fundamentally new level,” Bondarenko added.
