Wheat flour imports increased 8.1% to 6,800 tonnes, including 4,600 tonnes from Russia (67.6% of the total), 815.6 tonnes from Belarus, 775.6 tonnes from Ukraine, 400 tonnes from Azerbaijan and smaller amounts from Lithuania, Italy, France and Austria. The wheat imports totaled $53.3 million in value terms, up 11.7%, and the flour imports totaled $1.8 million, down 10%.
Georgia imported 271,900 tonnes of wheat in January-June 2018, 10.6% more than in the same period last year, the National Statistics Service told Interfax. The bulk of the wheat imports – 245,100 tonnes – came from Russia. The remaining 26,800 tones came from Kazakhstan (22,600 tonnes) and Turkey (3,100), with smaller amounts imported from Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Germany.
The volume of construction work in Ukraine in June 2018 increased by 2.2% compared to June 2017, while the increase in May 2018 from May 2017 was 2.7%. According to the authority, the volume of construction work in June 2018 grew by 12.3% compared with the previous month, while in May 2018 it grew by 20.5% compared with April 2018.
According to the report, in June 2018 year-over-year, the decrease in the volume of construction was observed in nonresidential construction and grew in building of engineering facilities. A fall in residential construction was 23%, while the figure in construction of nonresidential buildings fell by 5%. The increase of 17.9% was recorded in construction of engineering facilities.
In June 2018, the volume of construction of residential buildings declined by 20.4% compared with May 2018, and it grew by 5.5% in construction of nonresidential buildings and by 32.8% in construction of engineering facilities.
In January-June 2018, construction work fell in 14 regions, in particular in Luhansk region by 53.5%, to UAH 135.9 million, Sumy region by 22.2%, to UAH 417.9 million and Kirovohrad region by 21%, to UAH 457 million. The largest growth in the volume of construction works in January-June 2018 was seen in Ivano-Frankivsk region by 41.5%, to UAH 1.26 billion and Odesa region by 33.8%, to UAH 5.7 billion. In Kyiv city the volume of construction work fell by 5.6% year-over-year, to UAH 11.2 billion.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
Ukraine’s Acting Minister of Finance Oksana Markarova during her visit to Britain has signed a multilateral convention to implement tax treaty related measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting (Multilateral Instrument or MLI), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said on its website. According to the report, Ukraine became the 83rd jurisdiction that joined the MLI convention.
“The implementation of the BEPS action plan will favor the harmonization of international rules with more than 70 countries and create a more transparent environment. By signing the MLI convention, we will be able to make the necessary changes to the existing international treaties on double taxation between Ukraine and other states,” Markarova said.
According to the ministry, now the MLI multilateral convention must be ratified by the parliament.
The ministry noted Ukraine had joined the enhanced cooperation program under the OECD initiative on January 1, 2017. The OECD member countries have developed an action plan to combat tax base erosion and profit shifting. The BEPS plan includes 15 steps in various areas of counteraction to aggressive tax planning.
