Ukraine’s retail trade turnover in April 2020 compared to the same month of 2019 in comparable prices decreased by 14.9%, while in March it grew by 6.1%, the State Statistics Service has reported. According to the service, in April, compared with March 2020, retail trade turnover decreased by 23%.
In January-April 2020 compared with January-April 2019, retail trade turnover increased by 3.2%.
The largest growth in the retail turnover of enterprises (legal entities and individual entrepreneurs) for the four months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 was recorded in Kyiv (by 10.5%), Zaporizhia (by 9.8%), Dnipropetrovsk (by 8.6%), Odesa (6.7%), Volyn (6.3%), Kirovohrad (5.3%), Kharkiv and Donetsk (4.9%), Poltava (4.5%) regions.
The service recalls that the data are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Sevastopol, part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The net loss of Ukreximbank (Kyiv) amounted to UAH 2.07 billion in January-March 2020, while for the same period in 2019 the bank declared UAH 395.32 million in profit, the bank said in the quarterly financial statements released on its website.
According to the statements, the bank’s net interest income amounted to UAH 325.99 million for the first quarter, which is 9.7% more than for the first quarter of 2019, while the net profit from investments in securities increased by 40.6 times, to UAH 2.44 billion.
The bank lost UAH 4.3 billion on differences in rates, while it earned UAH 407.74 million in the same period in 2019.
The bank’s assets increased by 6.9%, to UAH 150 billion, including loans to customers by 7.9%, to UAH 57.5 billion for the reporting period.
The bank’s liabilities increased by 10.8%, to UAH 145.58 billion, including customer deposits by 12.2%, to UAH 86.54 billion.
The bank’s net worth halved to UAH 4.5 billion. Ukreximbank’s charter capital remained at the level of UAH 38.73 billion.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2020 Ukreximbank ranked third among 75 banks operating in the country in terms of total assets (UAH 202.92 billion).
Ukreximbank, the sole owner of which is the state, was created in 1992.
Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov and Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Oleh Nemchynov visited the Chernivtsi Regional Clinical Hospital as part of a working visit to the region, the press service of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration reports.
The ministers discussed with physicians the validity of the COVID-19 treatment protocols and a list of missing equipment.
“In the near future, several hundred expert-class mechanical ventilation devices and mobile x-ray units will be purchased with the funds from the European Investment Bank (EIB),” Stepanov said.
He also discussed the salaries of doctors with head of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration Serhiy Osachuk.
“Together with the premier and the president, we are looking for ways to increase the salaries of doctors by an average of 50% this year. I also think that the next year 6% of GDP should be allocated for health care system, not 3% as it is now,” the minister said.
The big privatization will be launched as soon as the coronavirus crisis is over, and the Dnipro Hotel will become its pilot project, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“As to medium-sized and big privatization, everything is ready. It will be launched after COVID-19. The first target – the Dnipro Hotel – is ready. As we promised, we started with public administration agency,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
The president also said the rest of hotels on balance of the public administration agency will be handed over to the State Property Fund.
The privatization targets have been “cleared off” legal cases, Zelensky said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expects that capital amnesty will be introduced in 2020, and the respective legislative initiative will be registered in the Verkhovna Rada soon. “We will introduce amnesty this year. We have to do it, we agreed on it and promised people. But now there were offers for the percent – 5% both for money and real estate… I think today the situation in the country is difficult, we need to think about these percent. If a person has any real estate or other facilities, this percentage should be relaxed,” the president said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“Perhaps real estate can be amnestied at a lower percentage or even at zero,” he added.
”We need to turn this page of history so that all Ukrainians would like to be taxpayers,” the head of state said.
Earlier, tax amnesty bill No. 1232 proposed a mechanism for individuals to declare hidden income, the tax rates of 5% and 10%, as well as a lowered 2.5% rate when investing in government domestic loan bonds.
