Ukraine as of November 28 had threshed 74.3 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops from an area of 15 million hectares, exceeding the result of the grain harvest for the whole of 2018, when the gross harvest amounted to 70.1 million tonnes. “Some 74.3 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops were harvested from an area of 15 million hectares, or 98% of the forecast, with the average yield being 4.93 tonnes/ha (4.7 tonnes/ha in 2018),” Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Tymofiy Mylovanov said on his Facebook page.
As reported, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture predicts grain harvest in 2019 at the level of 74 million tonnes, including 28.1 million tonnes of wheat and 35 million tonnes of corn.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia plans to reach a net profit indicator of UAH 1.3 billion in 2020, which is 71.1% less than the plan for 2019 or 62% less than the expected figure for the current year. This is stated in the draft financial plan of the enterprise for 2020, presented at the American Chamber of Commerce.
“We hope that by the end of the year it will be adopted in parliament,” Ivan Yuryk, a member of the board of Ukrzaliznytsia, said.
In addition, according to the financial plan, Ukrzaliznytsia intends to reduce EBITDA by 24% in 2020 compared to the plan for 2019, to UAH 19.08 billion, EBITDA margin by 5.9 percentage points, to 18.5%.
According to the draft document, the volume of freight traffic will increase by 5.5% compared with the expected freight turnover in 2019, to 192.6 million tonne-kilometers. In particular, it is planned to increase transportation in all directions: transit traffic by 8.8% (up to 16.9 million tonne-kilometers), export by 3.7% (up to 83 million tonne-kilometers), domestic by 9.3% (to 68.4 million tonne-kilometers).
The volume of passenger traffic in 2020 should increase by 1.5% (up to 28.8 million passenger-kilometers) compared with the expected passenger flow in 2019. In particular, the largest increase in passenger traffic is expected in international traffic – by 10.1% (to 1.1 million passenger-km), in domestic traffic by 1.2% (up to 22.5 million passenger-km), suburban by 0.9% (up to 5.1 million passenger-km).
The volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ukraine in the form of share capital as of October 1, 2019 amounted to $34.73 billion, which is $1.82 billion, or 5.5% more than at the beginning of the year, the State Statistics Service has said. According to its data, investment income for the first half of the year amounted to $1.67 billion, withdrawal some $980,000, but most of the increase was provided by the exchange rate difference due to the strengthening of the hryvnia at $1.14 billion.
As reported, in the first quarter of 2019, FDI in Ukraine increased by $45.5 million. Their revenues amounted to $590 million, withdrawal some $500 million, and the contribution of the exchange rate difference amounted to $60 million.
In the first half of the year, FDI growth amounted to $840 million: investment inflow to $1.26 billion, withdrawal to $730 million with a foreign exchange contribution of $520 million.
According to the State Statistics Service, the largest increase in FDI in January-September 2019 was recorded from Cyprus with $761.1 million (up to $10.3 billion), the Netherlands with $438.3 million (up to $7.56 billion), the Russian Federation with $220.1 million (up to $820 million), and Switzerland some $133.3 million (up to $1.68 billion).
At the same time, there was a sharp decrease in investments from Hungary by $197.8 million (to $370 million) and the UK by $92.7 million (to $2.04 billion).
By industry, the largest increase in foreign investments was recorded in financial and insurance activities with $828.6 million, mining and processing industries with $266.4 million and $235.4 million, real estate operations with $225.8 million, professional, scientific and technical operations with $161.8 million, as well as in wholesale and retail trade with $146.9 million.
At the same time, in the area of administrative and support services such investments decreased by $248 million.
Ukraine and Lithuania signed several documents, including a declaration on strategic partnership development for 2020-2024, following a session of the Council of Presidents of Ukraine and Lithuania chaired by Volodymyr Zelensky and Gitanas Nauseda. “This is a joint declaration on the development of strategic partnership between Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania, which contains the priorities of the bilateral dialogue for 2020-2024. Therefore, we can confidently say that the partnership between Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania will be even stronger,” Zelensky said at a meeting with the media on November 27.
The declaration will become a kind of road map for the development of Ukrainian-Lithuanian relations at the level of strategic partnership. Its provisions will form the basis of possible further steps by the countries in the context of cooperation on a range of issues of bilateral, regional and international agenda, reads a statement on the presidential website.
The joint statement also envisages a series of joint actions by Ukraine and Lithuania in international and regional security, European and Euro-Atlantic integration, economy, social policy, trade and investment development, scientific cooperation, cooperation in cultural and humanitarian fields.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva and Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the Republic of Lithuania Asta Skaisgiryte signed the Protocol of the Twelfth Session of the Council of Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania, which reflects the main agreements reached during this event.
The Protocol also strongly condemns Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, including the temporary illegal occupation of Crimea and parts of Ukraine’s sovereign territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The document also notes the active cooperation of the two countries and the strong support for Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations aimed to gain full membership in the EU and NATO.
Deputy Prime Minister, Digital Transformation Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov and Energy Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Zygimantas Vaiciunas signed a Declaration of Intent for Mutual Recognition of Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions between the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Ministry of Economy and Innovation of Lithuania. Among other things, the document contains an agreement on the parties’ intention to unite efforts to remove existing barriers to the cross-border use of trust services and cross-border e-contracts, e-bills and other similar solutions.
In addition, Defense Minister of Ukraine Andriy Zahorodniuk and Minister of National Defense of Lithuania Raimundas Karoblis signed a Declaration of Intent for Cooperation in Cyber Security between the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ministry of National Defense of Lithuania. The document provides for a series of measures aimed at developing cooperation in order to ensure appropriate response in the event of large-scale national or international cyber incidents. The parties also expressed their intention to establish common points of single contact for the exchange of information on cyber threats and attacks, and to develop a joint training plan.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has held a meeting at which he set the task for heating tariffs to be reduced in Ukrainians’ utility bills in December, since gas prices for the population had previously been reduced. “Gas prices have decreased, but tariffs have not. Why so? We are looking for ways to reduce the price and make Ukrainians receive lower heating bills in December,” he said on his Facebook page, where a video was also posted about the meeting attended by Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk, Energy Minister Oleksiy Orzhel, Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Bohdan and his deputy Yulia Kovaliv.
At the meeting, it was said that after lowering gas prices, Ukrainians should receive lower tariffs, but legislatively, it is impossible today to change heating tariffs until May 2020.
“We’ve coped with the gas price. In order for the heat tariff to go down this winter, we have a very short bill, which can be introduced by the president as urgent, and the adoption of this law will lead to the fact that our tariff for the population will decrease. This winter we have already protected consumers from tariff growth, because it has traditionally grown. It will not grow anymore,” Honcharuk said.
Kovaliv, in turn, noted that the National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER) is authorized to change the tariffs and this issue should also be discussed with the regulator.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized that every corrupt official in Ukraine should be punished, regardless of surname, position and the sphere of activity. “Another priority is corruption crimes. Every corrupt official should be held accountable regardless of his surname, we understand whom we are speaking about, position and the sphere of activity. Be sure, as the president of Ukraine, I am your ally in this difficult struggle,” he said on the occasion of the Prosecutor’s Day on November 29.
Zelensky wished the prosecutors every day to appear in “high-profile news, in which the numbers of 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 will appear, but this will not be the amount of bribes, but the years that criminals and corrupt officials received due to your professional work.”
