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.”
Real wages in Ukraine on October 2019 increased by 9.2% compared with October 2018, while compared with September 2019 they decreased by 0.3%, the State Statistics Service has said. According to the agency, the average nominal wage of full time employees in October 2019 compared with September 2019 increased by 0.4%, in annual terms (from October 2018) it also rose by 16.4%, amounting to UAH 10,727, which is 2.6 times more than the minimum wage (UAH 4,173).
The service says that in September it amounted to UAH 10,687, in August some UAH 10,573, in July some UAH 10,971, and in June to UAH 10,783.
According to the statistics agency, the largest increase in the average wage of full time employees in October 2019 compared with October 2018 was observed in Luhansk (by 22.5%), Kyiv (by 20.8%), Mykolaiv (by 20.6%), Donetsk (by 19.5%), Dnipropetrovsk (by 18.6%), Zaporizhia (by 17.9%), Cherkasy (by 17.7%), Ternopil (by 17.5%), Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia (by 16.6%), Chernihiv (by 16.2%), Sumy (by 15.9%), Chernivtsi and Khmelnytsky (by 15.2%), Rivne (by 15.1%), Odesa and Volyn (15%), Kharkiv (14.8%), Poltava (14.6%), Kherson (13.8%), Zhytomyr (13.2%), Lviv (by 13.1%), Kirovohrad (by 12.2%) regions and in Kyiv (by 14.5%).
The highest level of wages in October was recorded in Kyiv at UAH 15,862, the lowest in Chernivtsi region at UAH 8,211.
At the same time, average wages in Donetsk region amounted to UAH 11,952, Luhansk region some UAH 9,095 (except for the temporarily occupied territories).
Japan Tobacco International (JTI) is bringing the new Logic Compact electronic vaporizer to the Ukrainian market, which will be available in 27 countries by the end of the year. This was announced by JTI Ukraine Marketing Director Oleksandr Ponomarchuk during the presentation of Logic Compact in Kyiv.
“We are launching the product in Kyiv. If to look at the market, then electronic vaporizers account for 7.4%, tobacco vaporizers for 8.4%, and cigarettes for 84.2%. Moreover, the e-vape market in Kyiv doubled in a year from $33 million in 2018 to $63 million in 2019. Until 2021, we expect growth in Kyiv to $106 million and in Ukraine in general to $290 million,” he said.
Currently, the product is presented in 20 countries.
According to Ponomarchuk, the largest consumers of Logic products are the markets of Britain, France and Italy, and with the advent of Logic Compact, the largest market has become the Russian Federation.
According to him, the company sees a great potential of the product in the electronic cigarette market in Ukraine.
“We take into account market regulation. We understand that it will come sooner or later. However, the approach is based on potential – if the market is profitable, we go there,” he said.
At the same time, he said that studies have shown that product vapor contains 95% fewer components recommended by the World Health Organization for reducing in cigarette smoke.
The product will be available from November 29 in the Rozetka online store and in the Lavina Mall and River Mall shopping centers. The retail price of the device is UAH 699, a set of two replaceable cartridges costs UAH 99.
Japan Tobacco International is an international division of Japan Tobacco. It produces cigarettes under the brands Winston, Mevius, Camel, Sobranie, Glamor, and LD.
