Belarus will raise duties on oil and oil products exported outside the Eurasian Economic Union’s customs territory on May 1. The sizes of the duties were confirmed by Government Resolution No. 262 of April 25, which has been published on the National Legal Internet Portal. Under the document, the duty on crude oil will grow from $97.40 to $104.60 per tonne, that on straight-run gasoline will rise from $53.50 to $57.50 per tonne, and that on commercial gasoline will grow from $29.20 to $31.30 per tonne.
The duty on light and medium distillates will rise from $29.20 to $31.30 per tonne. The same rate will apply to diesel, benzene, toluene, xylol, and lubricants and other oils.
Belarus last raised export duties on oil and oil products on April 1. Belarus has been aligning its export duties on oil and oil products with Russia’s since 2010 in light of its duty-free imports of oil from Russia. In accordance with EAEU agreements, all export duties on oil and oil products have remained in the Belarusian budget since 2015.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) will send part of its profit for 2018 in the amount of UAH 64.878 billion to the national budget, Head of the NBU Council Bohdan Danylyshyn wrote on his Facebook page, referring to the decision of the NBU Council. “The Council decided to approve the distribution of profits of the National Bank of Ukraine for 2018 in the amount of UAH 64.878 billion in the following areas: the formation of total reserves of net worth of the National Bank of Ukraine – UAH 3.566 billion; obligations of the National Bank of Ukraine to the national budget of Ukraine for 2018 year – UAH 64.878 billion,” he wrote.
As reported on the website of the NBU, the main components of the profit of the central bank are the interest profit, as well as the results of operations with financial assets and liabilities in foreign currency and financial tools.
Net interest income after the release of reserves for 2018 is UAH 34.9 billion (in 2017 – UAH 45.2 billion). In 2018, the result of currency revaluation for the first time since 2013 became negative due to the strengthening of the hryvnia exchange rate to foreign currencies and amounts to UAH 2.2 billion. A positive result from the revaluation of debt securities at fair value is UAH 6.7 billion (in 2017 – UAH 2.7 billion). Administrative expenses of the NBU and costs associated with the manufacture of banknotes, coins and other products amount to UAH 3.78 billion (in 2017 – UAH 3.59 billion). Also in 2018, funds secured for legal obligations, including lawsuits, in the amount of UAH 2.1 billion were released.
The schedule for transferring part of the NBU profit for 2018 to the national budget will be agreed with the Finance Ministry of Ukraine, the NBU said.
Ukraine Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has approved a list of priority geographical indications (GIs), the EU-fund project “Geographical Indications in Ukraine” will be assisting in their registration. The first Ukrainian GIs products (given are working names) will be: wine with protected designation of origin (PDO) Shabskyi, PDO Yalpuh, wine with protected geographical indications (PGI) Zakarpattia, PGI Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, cheese with PDO Hutsul Sheep Bryndzya, watermelon with PDO Kherson Watermelon, sweet cherries with PDO Melitopol Cherries, honey with PGI Carpathian Honey, the project said on Facebook.
Sergiy Tigipko’s TAS group of companies has bought part of the Arena City retail and office center at 1-3/2a Baseina Street in Kyiv. According to the NV Business edition, with reference to several sources, the group of Tigipko acquired the center with an area of 14,000 square meters for $13-15 million. The deal did not include several premises on the ground floor that were previously sold.
According to the source, Dmytro Firtash’ Group D, which owned the asset, put it up for sale in 2018 at the initial price of about $20 million.
According to Olha Nasonova, the director general of Restaurant Consulting company, rental rates for offices in Arena City can reach $25-30 per square meter, for food courts from $50 per square meter.
TAS Group was founded in 1998. It has assets in financial and industrial sectors, agriculture, real estate, pharmaceuticals, and venture projects.
