Canada’s economy grew 2.2% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, the country’s statistics agency reported.
The growth estimate for the fourth quarter of 2024 was revised down to 2.1% from 2.6%.
Analysts polled by Trading Economics had expected Canadian GDP to grow by 1.7% in January-March.
Compared to the previous quarter, Canadian GDP grew by 0.5% after the same increase in the previous quarter. Earlier, it was reported that growth in October-December was 0.6%.
Consumer spending rose 0.3% in the first quarter, while government spending fell 0.8% for the first time in a year.
Exports rose 1.6% and imports rose 1.1%.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the terms of privatization of the state-owned stake in cosmetics and household chemicals manufacturer Vinnitsabytkhim, as well as its starting price of UAH 301.4 million, according to the press service of the Ministry of Economy.
According to the report, the new owner of Vinnytsiabythim must maintain the company’s core activities and not allow any layoffs during the first six months.
In addition, they must pay wage arrears and debts to the budget within six months, repay overdue accounts payable (except for debts to sanctioned entities), and comply with environmental legislation.
Vinnitsabytkhim is included in the list of large privatization objects.
As reported, on July 31, 2024, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) upheld the Ministry of Justice’s claim to impose sanctions on the Russian company Nevskaya Kosmetika in the form of confiscating 100% of the shares of the Ukrainian company Vinnytsia Bytkhim to the state.
In July 2022, the seized assets of Vinnytsiabythim were transferred to the National Agency for the Identification, Investigation, and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA).
Following a competitive selection process in July 2023, the right to resume operations and become the asset manager of Vinnytsiabytkhim was granted to Kraitex-Service LLC, whose beneficiaries, according to Opendatabot, are Ruslan Shostak and Valery Kiptik, co-owners of the EVA and Varus chains. Later, Kraitex-Service announced that it would invest UAH 400 million in launching production at Vinnytsiabytkhim.
ARMA terminated its management of the asset in April 2025 and transferred it to the State Property Fund of Ukraine for further disposal. According to the National Agency, during the period of management of the seized asset, almost UAH 100 million was transferred to the state budget.
JSC Ukrenergomash (Kharkiv) ended the first quarter of this year with net sales revenue of UAH 225.3 million, which is 23.3% more than in January-March 2024.
According to the company’s financial report on its website, net profit amounted to UAH 0.25 million, up 35%.
The company received UAH 92.75 million in gross profit, almost nine times more than in the first quarter of last year, while operating profit amounted to UAH 8.1 million, up 87%.
Ukrenergomash slightly reduced its current liabilities compared to the beginning of the year to UAH 2.302 billion, while long-term liabilities also decreased slightly to UAH 182.4 million.
Ukrenergomash, more than 75.22% of whose shares are owned by the state, is the only manufacturer of turbine equipment for hydro, thermal, and nuclear power plants in Ukraine. It also manufactures electric motors for rail and urban transport.
According to the company’s annual report, in 2024, it more than doubled its net sales revenue to almost UAH 799 million and received UAH 0.88 million in net profit compared to UAH 0.2 million in 2023.
The average number of employees in 2024 was 2,739 (3,492 in 2023).
The State Enterprise Medical Procurements of Ukraine (MZU) plans to deliver 21,000 rabies vaccines to the regions in early June.
According to MZU’s Telegram channel, the cost of this batch is UAH 10.3 million.
The vaccine was purchased with state budget funds at the request of the Ministry of Health (MOH), and its distribution to the regions is being coordinated by the Public Health Center.
The vaccine will be received by 19 regions, including regional centers for disease control and prevention in Lutsk, Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Kramatorsk, Uzhhorod, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kropyvnytskyi, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Rivne, Ternopil, Kherson, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, and Chernihiv.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) fined Aquapolyana LLC more than UAH 3.3 million for placing information about the medicinal properties of the product on the labels of Shayanska water without proper evidence, which could have given the company an unfair competitive advantage, the committee’s press service reported.
According to the report, during the investigation, the AMCU found that Aqua-Polyana distributed information on its product labels that could mislead consumers. In particular, the packaging of Shayanska water , unconfirmed medical indications for its use were indicated, including the treatment of gastric and duodenal ulcers, hepatitis, cholecystitis, angiocholitis, chronic pancreatitis, as well as metabolic disorders such as obesity, gout, oxaluria, and phosphaturia.
Aqua-Poliana was unable to provide the AMCU with adequate evidence to confirm the medical indications stated on the Shayanska water label.
According to the Ukrainian Research Institute of Rehabilitation and Balneology of the Ministry of Health, some of these claims were not verified during clinical trials of the product.
In addition, according to a survey conducted by the AMCU, such information could influence consumers’ decisions to purchase water.
As a result, the company could gain a competitive advantage over other mineral water producers not through product quality, but through the dissemination of inaccurate data. For this violation, the company was fined UAH 3,316,752.
The company stopped spreading false info and provided an updated water label. This was taken into account when determining the amount of the fine.
The state-owned Oschadbank (Kyiv) has provided the Lviv City Council with a second loan of UAH 668 million for a term of five years to improve energy efficiency and municipal facilities.
“Oschadbank has signed another loan agreement with the Lviv City Council—the second in the last six months—for UAH 668 million,” Oschadbank CEO Serhiy Naumov said on Telegram.
Other terms of the loan have not been disclosed.
The total amount of loans provided by Oschadbank to the Lviv City Council under signed agreements has already exceeded UAH 1.5 billion, the bank said.
It is noted that the funds will be used to develop strategic urban infrastructure, in particular roads and housing and communal services, and one of the main areas of use will be improving energy efficiency.
“The money will go to a biogas plant with combined production of electricity and heat, an electrical substation, a boiler room with connection to a cogeneration unit, and investments in the company Lvivteploenergo,” Naumov added.
As reported, Oschadbank’s share in energy lending in the first quarter of 2025 exceeded 31%. During 2024-2025, contracts worth over EUR 85 million were signed in the corporate business segment with its participation, in particular for projects to develop energy generation and storage. These include the first case on the market of bank lending for a project to install 30 MW of energy storage systems to provide ancillary services, which was implemented by KNESS as part of a tender by NEC Ukrenergo.
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