Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of February 23
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia expects to launch a concession project for high-speed traffic in Ukraine with the help of investors from China, Korea and Turkey, Ukrzaliznytsia board chairman Volodymyr Zhmak has said.
“I believe that the only tool for building high-speed train networks is concession, and in order to realize this, Ukraine needs a powerful investor,” he said at the Ukraine30. Infrastructure forum in Kyiv.
According to Zhmak, there are currently interested investors from China, South Korea and Turkey.
“Today, these potential investors are just looking at Ukraine in terms of organizing high-speed traffic,” he said.
Earlier that day, at the forum, Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy announced the ministry’s plans in 2021 to start work on a project for the implementation in Ukraine of a European format railway network (1,435mm) with a train speed of over 250 km/h.
“These are four sections with a total length of almost 2,000 km of railway track. The first section is Kyiv-Lviv and the border, 896 km, and we are already starting to build and prepare one of these stages this year,” the minister said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Indian partners for the delivery of the first batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca (CoviShield) vaccine to Ukraine.
In a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, the head of state also promised to start vaccination of the population against coronavirus (COVID-19) in Ukraine “as soon as possible.”
“The first 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in Ukraine. We appreciate the Indian partners for their support. We will start vaccination as soon as possible. We need to fight COVID-19 together,” Zelensky said.
Retail trade turnover in Ukraine in January 2021 at comparable prices increased by 3.5% compared to January 2020, the State Statistics Service has reported.
According to its data, in January 2021 retail trade turnover decreased by 27.9% compared to December 2020.
The largest growth in the turnover of retail trade of enterprises (legal entities and individual entrepreneurs) in January 2021 compared to January 2020 was recorded in Kyiv (by 13.9%), Chernihiv (by 10.7%), Zaporizhia (by 6.9%), Odesa (by 6.4%), Dnipropetrovsk (by 6.2%), Vinnytsia (by 6%), Poltava (by 5.6%), Sumy (by 4.2%) and Luhansk (by 4.1%) regions.
According to the statistics department, the leaders in absolute indicators of the volume of retail trade in January 2021 were Kyiv city (UAH 19.099 billion), Dnipropetrovsk (UAH 9.382 billion), Kyiv (UAH 8.458 billion), Kharkiv (UAH 7.065 billion), Odesa (UAH 7.213 billion UAH) and Lviv (UAH 5.736 billion) regions.
The State Statistics Service clarifies that the turnover of retail trade enterprises (legal entities) in January 2021 compared to January 2020 increased by 4.9%, from December 2020 decreased by 27.1%, amounting to UAH 71.915 billion.
The wholesale trade turnover of enterprises (legal entities) in January 2021 compared to the same month in 2020 decreased by 0.6% and amounted to UAH 196.453 billion.
As reported, the retail trade turnover of Ukraine in 2020 increased by 8.4% and amounted to UAH 1.211 trillion.
The State Statistics Service reminds that the data are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Sevastopol and the zone of the JFO.
Representatives of Switzerland’s Stadler Rail AG, specializing in the production of railway rolling stock, on Tuesday visited the Kyiv Electrical Carriage-Repair Plant to study the possibility of having local manufacturing content there.
According to a Tuesday report by Ukrzaliznytsia, Stadler is being considered by the Ukrainian state railway operator as one of the potential suppliers of rolling stock for the project of integrating the railway with the City Express system announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to acting member of the board of Ukrzaliznytsia, Director of the Passenger Company branch Oleksandr Pertsovsky, who was quoted in the report, Ukrzaliznytsia is ready to share its vision and plans for the project with potential investors and make decisions based on the feasibility study, economic effect and the level of local manufacturing content.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine has called on Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev to amend the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the excise tax rate on heated tobacco products, according to the organization’s website.
“Since January 2021, law No. 466 has increased the tax rate on heated tobacco products by 320%. In the current economic realities, such a sharp increase in tax can lead to devastating consequences for the market and the economy of the country, since a significant increase in the price of such products will contribute to growth of illegal market, as a result of which the state will not receive the planned budget revenues,” the organization said.
According to the companies-members of the chamber, the plan to increase the excise tax rate on cigarettes needs to be amended by increasing it until 2030 with a 10% annual rate increase, as well as maintaining the current ad valorem component of the excise tax. At the same time, from January 1, 2021, the amount of excise tax is UAH 1,456 per 1,000 pieces with an annual tax rate increase of 20% to UAH 2,517 in 2024.
According to the American Chamber of Commerce, from January 1 of this year, the amendments introduced by law No. 466 also make it impossible to sell, transport and store liquids for electronic cigarettes already produced in 2020. Such restriction deprives tobacco companies of the opportunity to exercise their right to property, including storing, transporting, selling or exporting products outside the customs territory of Ukraine, the message said.
As reported, on January 16, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada adopted law No. 1210, which introduced amendments to the Tax Code, increasing the excise tax rate on heated tobacco products four-fold from January 1, 2021.
