KYIV. April 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – International investors will monitor the reaction of western financial donors of Ukraine to the first steps of the new government, experts of investment banks polled by Interfax-Ukraine have said.
“We think expectations were depressed by the political crisis, inability to tame corruption, delayed reforms etc. So, investors will monitor closely the first steps of the new government and the feedback from western partners/IMF,” Senior Economist at ING Bank in Russia and CIS Dmitri Polevoy said.
“The list of questions remains unchanged: stabilizing domestic politics, fighting corruption, delivering fully on the promises about reforms (the delayed tariffs hike and the new tax code are one of the several examples), restoring economic growth, Minsk-II process,” the expert said.
Polevoy said that politics will remain in investors focus.
“The recent reshuffling doesn’t solve the fundamental issue of falling approval ratings of President and ex-PM parties and rising support of other parties (Samopomich, Batkivschyna and Opposition Bloc), fuelling their political ambitions and calls for early parliamentary elections. Fundamentally, parliament is misaligned with the current political preferences of the population,” he said.
Sberbank CIB Investment Research Analyst Alexander Golynskiy said that in the short term, the key questions are the stability of the new government and coalition and the resumption the external financing that has been halted. The potential change of the parameters of the IMF’s cooperation with Kyiv is also a source for concerns.
In the mid-term and long-term, investors will seek political stability and the new government and Verkhovna Rada’s stance on reforms and, consequently, chances for the external financing and economic growth.
“We think that a Groysman-led government would be likely to move towards bringing the IMF program back on track, risks are arguably greater than under a Yatseniuk-led one, given the lack of track record and lack of clarity on Groysman’s policy views on utility tariff increases,” Goldman Sachs Analyst Andrew Matheny said.
KYIV. April 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky’s K.Fund in partnership with French School 42 and support of NGO Osvitoria has launched Ukrainian National IT Factory (UNIT Factory) in Ukraine to train IT specialists.
The participants of the project said in a press release last week that education in UNIT Factory will be free of charge for students if after graduation they work in Ukraine for three years. Young people aged from 18 to 30 can enter this education institution. They are to pass tests. Academic criteria (diplomas, Exam Focus Complex Tests and grades are not taken into account).
The training program lasts three years. After first 12 months students can choose if they continue training or go to work in a company.
According to the press release, the program is based on gamification: approaches typical for computer role games. Acquisition of knowledge and project defending are accompanied by “pumping” of skills and getting new experience, while there are no usual teachers, timetables and grades.
The online registration of candidates will be opened in April 2016. Up to 900 students will be selected for one-month probation and finally around 300 persons will start training in November 2016.
“UNIT Factory challenges the conventional education system. Companies do not need papers about graduation from a prestigious college, but they need professionals who successfully realize projects,” Khmelnytsky said.
K.Fund was established in 2015 to support educational and economic projects.
School 42 is a software design school founded in 2013 in France.
NGO Osvitoria was founded in 2013 to develop and reform education in Ukraine.
KYIV. April 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze deputy prime minister for European integration has said that a main task in her post is to help Ukrainian producers to enter the European markets as much as possible.
“The top priority for me is to make the Association Agreement real. It must work for Ukrainian reforms. Barriers on the way of assistance that both the European Commission and EU members are ready to provide should be removed, as this hinders the acceptance of this assistance and its absorption. Another main task is to help our regions and Ukrainian producers to enter the EU market as much as possible (of course, in cooperation with the Economic Development and Trade Ministry),” she said in an interview with the Ukrainian weekly newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia.
She said that after preliminary consultations with Volodymyr Groysman I had an impression that he understands a certain institution is required to have the post of Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration effective.
“I hope that we will manage to distribute duties and colleagues would back me that the deputy prime minister for European integration gets a chance of really influence the coordination, implementation monitoring and promotion of important steps in European integration. I think that the issue will be settled via distribution of duties among deputy prime ministers,” she said.
She said that a large group of professionals has been gathered in the office of the envoy for European integration.
“It could be used to continue forming the full-featured office (bureau) with a team of professionals,” she said.
“I hope that we will manage to attract funds of the European Commission to additionally engage specialists who maybe at first would not go to the civil service, but they will cooperate in a certain form with the office of the deputy prime minister. Then we will actively start introducing the reform of the civil service. These people could later come to the civil service, which I think will become more interesting and attractive for everyone who has knowledge and desire to work with the state,” she said.
KYIV. April 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The development of a plan for zoning Kyiv could be completed in June-July 2016, Head of Kyiv Investment Agency Oleh Mistiuk considers.
“A decision has been made to develop town-planning documentation as zoning. This will be done in two or three months. I think zoning for the whole of Kyiv will be developed by the middle of this year,” Mistiuk said, speaking in the debate “Decentralization: topical issues of investment and development” in Kyiv.
According to the agency head, the finalization and approval by Kyiv City Council of the zoning plan will allow the city to allocate land plots and change their purpose for the construction of new facilities even without developed and approved projects of detailed area plans.
“We can expect that in a few months Kyiv City Council will begin to allocate land plots for renovation or new construction,” the expert said.
At the same time, Kyiv City Council Secretary Oleksiy Reznikov noted that the process of approval of the zoning project by the city authorities might be delayed until the end of the year, as will cause a broad discussion in Kyiv City Council, as well as by public organizations.
KYIV. April 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public investment in construction should be focused on the development of infrastructure projects, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has stated.
“A preliminary analysis of the current budget showed that the state invests money in the objects that are 5-7% completed over a year to bring the level to 10%. Simply put, funds are invested in construction pits and turn into eternal construction. If we focus on infrastructure projects, the program of repair and construction of Ukrainian roads, we’ll get several results and make a really useful thing for the country,” Groysman said, when presenting the program of the new government in the Verkhovna Rada.
He also noted that it is necessary to spend public investment on energy efficiency and the development of infrastructure objects, while providing control over the use of the allocated funds and the quality of implemented projects with the support of international organizations.
“In fact, we need to start the overhaul of the country,” the premier added.
KYIV. April 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Zhytomyr Pharmaceutical Factory LLC in 2015 saw net profit rise by 12.8% compared to 2014, to UAH 11.94 million.
According to a company report in the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and the Stock Market, its net income increased by 29.2%, to UAH 292.069 million, gross profit rose by almost 50%, to UAH 153.249 million.
As reported, in 2014 Zhytomyr Pharmaceutical Factory saw net profit fall by 21.3% compared to 2013, to UAH 10.584 million.
Zhytomyr Pharmaceutical Factory produces medicines mainly based on raw materials of vegetable and animal origin under the trademarks of Vishpa and Zhytomyr Pharmaceutical Factory. When forming the product portfolio, the company gives priority to production and development of drugs that are used in urology, gynecology, rheumatology and pediatrics.
