The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on October 25, 2019 put into circulation the 1,000-hryvnia banknote, the NBU has reported on its website.
“From today, banks will be able to get it at the National Bank and give it out to their customers. This banknote is now a valid means of payment in Ukraine. It can be freely used to pay in a retail network or make a deposit with a bank,” the press service of the governor of the central bank said, citing Yakiv Smolii.
According to him, the key advantages of putting into circulation the new banknote with a face value of UAH 1,000 are an increase in the convenience of payments and a reduction in the cost of producing and processing banknotes. The 1,000-hryvnia banknote replaces in circulation some of the banknotes with a face value of UAH 100, 200 and 500. In addition, the appearance of the new banknote will simplify payments and savings.
As the central bank said, the last time the highest face value banknote – UAH 500 UAH was put into circulation 13 years ago. At the same time, Ukrainians’ incomes are rising, prices are changing, therefore, according to theoretical studies used to determine the optimal banknote number by the central banks of the world, to ensure normal money circulation in Ukraine, banknotes of a higher face value than UAH 500 are needed.
According to the press service, the new banknote combines advanced design and money security technologies.
“The 1,000-hryvnia banknote is the highest face value our national currency has today. It is therefore well protected. This banknote contains more than 20 modern security elements, including two modern optically variable elements. Everyone can independently verify its authenticity,” Smolii said.
So, turning the banknote in your hands, you can easily check its modern security element – the SPARK OVI element in the form of a crystal flower, which should gradually change color – from golden to jade green. Another innovative security feature is the “window” thread. This partially embedded in the paper purple polymer thread contains the digits representing the banknote’s face value and the trident – the small coat of arms of Ukraine. Tilting of the banknote brings out the kinematic effect, the background image moves in the opposite direction.
The front of the banknote features a portrait of Volodymyr Vernadskyi, an outstanding scientist, one of the founders and the first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, created in 1918. The building of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is at the back of the banknote.
The 1,000-hryvnia banknote inherits the new modernized design of the upgraded 20, 100 and 500 hryvnia banknotes.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 28/10/19
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Electricity production by Ukraine’s power grids decreases by 1.4%
Electricity production by Ukraine’s integrated power grids in January-September 2019 decreased by 1.4%, or 1.631 billion kWh, compared to the same period in 2018, to 114.298 billion kWh, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection told Interfax-Ukraine.
Nuclear power plants (NPPs) during this period reduced their electricity production by 0.5% year-over–year (y-o-y), to 60.562 billion kWh. In particular, electricity output by Zaporizhia NPP was 27.858 billion kWh (+0.8% versus January-September-2018), Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP generated 12.898 billion kWh (+9.2%), Rivne NPP 13.428 billion kWh (+18.9%), and Khmelnytsky NPP 6.38 billion kWh (-37.2%).
Thermal power plants (TPPs), as well as combined heat and power plants (CHPPs) and cogeneration plants increased production by 0.5%, to 42.172 billion kWh. TPPs alone increased output by 0.2%, to 34.651 billion kWh, CHPPs and cogeneration plants saw a 1.7% increase, to 7.52 billion kWh.
In January-September 2019, hydro and pump storage power plants reduced production by 38.3%, to 6.161 billion kWh, while isolated generating plants increased output by 17%, to 1.294 billion kWh.
Electricity production by wind farms, solar power plants, biomass plants more than doubled, to 4.109 billion kWh.
The NPPs accounted for 53% of total electricity output January through September 2019 (52.5% y-o-y), while the share of TPPs, CHPPs and cogeneration plants was 36.9% (36.2%) and that of the hydro and pump storage power plants was 5.4% (8.6%). The isolated generating plants accounted for 1.1% (1%), and the share of renewable energy was 3.6% (1.7%).
Ukraine on the night of Sunday, October 27, switches to “winter time,” moving the clock one hour back, according to the press service of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Agriculture. Pursuant to Cabinet’s resolution No. 509 from May 13, 1996, each year on the last Sunday in October at 04:00 the clock is moved back one hour.
Each year on the last Sunday of March at 03:00 the clock switches to “summer time,” with the clock moved one hour forward.
Currently, clocks are being moved ahead in more than 70 countries. The countries of the European Union, most of which are located in the UTC+ 1 belt, and the smaller ones in UTC and UTC+ 2, also switch to “winter time”. However, in August 2018, the European Commission made a recommendation to abandon the seasonal time change in 2019, so that member states could decide whether to abandon this mechanism. The recommendation was adopted based on a mass survey among citizens of EU countries, which resulted in 80% supporting the abandonment of “winter time.”
In Europe, Iceland, Russia and Belarus do not switch to “winter time.”
In Ukraine, in 2011, a resolution was adopted to abolish the transition to “winter time,” but it was later cancelled.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a meeting with top managers of the government and lawmakers has set a task to cut budget expenses on maintenance of officials by 10%. “We held a meeting to prepare the 2020 national budget for second reading. I listened to the Minister of Finance on the main indicators. I set the task to reduce national budget spending on officials for the next year by 10%,” Zelensky said in his Telegram channel on Friday.
The president said that this would save money and allow channeling funds to socially important budget items.
“This reduction should not affect teachers and doctors, those on whom the future of Ukraine depends,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine since the beginning of the new marketing year 2019/2020 (MY, July-June) and as of October 25, 2019 had exported 17.597 million tonnes of grain and legumes, which is 42.6% more than on the same date of the previous MY.
According to the information and analytical portal of the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine, to date, the country has exported 10.76 million tonnes of wheat, 3.4 million tonnes of corn, and 3.2 million tonnes of barley.
As of October 25 of this year, farmers had exported 107,300 tonnes of flour.
As reported, Ukraine in the 2018/2019 MY exported a record 50.4 million tonnes of grain, legumes and flour, which is 23% more than in the previous MY.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in September raised its forecast for grain exports from Ukraine for the 2019/2020 MY by 400,000 tonnes compared with the August forecast, to 54.44 million tonnes.
