The Ukrainian government seeks to finish the implementation of a project on the high-speed train communication with the Boryspil international airport (Kyiv) in December 2018, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman wrote on his Twitter page on Friday. “It will be possible to get to the airport or to the city in 35 minutes. The price of the ticket is UAH 80-120,” he wrote.
The construction of a railway communication between Kyiv city and the airport should begin no later than June 1, the prime minister said. According to the project of Ukrzaliznytsia, which was supported by the Cabinet of Ministers, the train line is planned to be laid from the Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky station through the Vydubychi station to terminal D of the Boryspil airport, according to the government’s website.
“In fact, only 4 km of the road is needed to be completed,” the press service of the government said.
“Now there is a real technical solution. We are starting to implement it. All procedural moments need to be resolved before June 1,” the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers, quoting Groysman as saying.
The project will be coordinated by deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Kistion.
According to the report, 11 PESA 620m trains with 91 seats, two PESA 630m trains with 192 seats, which will transport at least 2.67 million passengers per year, are planned to be used on the line.
In turn, acting Board Chairman of PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia Yevhen Kravtsov said on his Facebook page that the required amount of investment in the project is UAH 600-800 million. In particular, UAH 450 million is required for the construction of an overpass; UAH 100 million for tracks, platforms, reconstruction of the contact network; UAH 70 million for the construction of box depots and another UAH 100 million for the technical restoration of rail buses.
At the slides of the presentation presented by Kravtsov it is indicated that the project will greatly relieve the road infrastructure, reducing Kyiv’s road burden by 1,000 car and 30 bus trips per day.
As reported, Ukraine has the unrealized national project “Air Express” of railway passenger communication between Kyiv and Boryspil International Airport, construction of other infrastructure objects in Kyiv region, which is aimed at ensuring the development of transport infrastructure, strengthening the competitive positions of Ukrainian air carriers, increasing the investment and tourist attractiveness of the country.
To implement it, in 2011, a $372.3 million government secured credit agreement was signed with the Export-Import Bank of China. The CCEC was designated as the general contractor for performing turnkey construction works.
The inflationary expectations of Ukrainians in January 2018 improved by 5 points after a negative trend in December 2017 and reached 185.3 (on the scale of 0 to 200), while in general the consumer confidence index in January decreased by 0.8 points compared to the indicator a month earlier and rose by 5.8 points in annual terms, to 59.5.
“In January 2018 the consumer confidence index remained almost unchanged compared to December 2017. On the one hand, one can indicate the improvement of estimates of the current personal financial standing. From the other hand, the expectations of the country’s economic development over the next year continue to deteriorate for the second month in a row,” according to a monthly survey of GfK Ukraine.
The index of expectations of the country’s economic development over the next year declined by 4.5 points, to 54.5, while that for the next five years decreased by 0.9 points, to 70.6. At the same time, Ukrainians were optimistic about the expected changes in personal financial standing: the index rose by 1.6 points, to 57.5, the research says.
However, in general, the index of economic expectations was down by 1.3 points, to 60.9.
In January Ukrainians were also pessimistic about the national currency exchange rate for the next three months: the index of devaluation expectations rose by 1.3 points, to 167. At the same time, the index of expectations of changes in unemployment increased by 0.8 points, to 139.2, according to GfK Ukraine.
The volume of non-cash transactions in the Internet using mobile banking and e-commerce in Ukraine in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016 rose by 69.1%, to UAH 105.5 billion.
According to the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the number of such transactions at the same time increased by 28.9% and amounted to 275.8 million units.
The central bank also notes a significant increase in the volume of operations for transferring funds from one card to another by 54.1%, to UAH 73.4 billion (the number of transactions increased by 39.2%, to 43.2 million), as well as the volume of transactions in trade networks by 35.9%, to UAH 79.8 billion (the amount increased by 34.9%, to 329 billion deals).
The volume of transactions using self-service devices grew by 60.9%, to UAH 7.6 billion, and their number by 8.5%, to 14.4 million.
The total volume of non-cash transactions in 2017 was up by 46.16%, to UAH 835 billion. In particular, 38.8% of the total volume were transactions in the Internet, 31.9% were payments in trade networks, 26.4% transfers from card to card, and 2.9% transactions using self-service devices.
The total number of non-cash transactions last year increased by 30.2%, to 2.311 billion. In particular, 50.6% in the total number of payments were made in trade networks, 41% in the Internet, 6.1% were transfers between cards, and 2.3% transactions using self-service devices.
The growth of consumer prices in Ukraine in 2017 accelerated to 13.7% compared with 12.4% in 2016, which, however, is significantly lower than in the past years: it was 43.3% in 2015 and 24.9% in 2014. Industrial prices in Ukraine in 2017 increased by 16.5% against 35.7% in 2016, 25.4% in 2015, and 31.7% in 2014.
The national budget of Ukraine for 2018 provides for the allocation of UAH 86.9 billion for funding the healthcare system, which is 15% more than in 2017 (UAH 75.1 billion).
Industrial production in Ukraine in 2017 decreased by 0.1% compared to 2016, and in December it decreased by 0.5%.
Agricultural production in Ukraine (excluding the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and Sevastopol, part of the ATO zone) in 2017 decreased by 2.7% compared to 2016.
More statistics see at the table below.
Credit Agricole Bank (Kyiv) saw a 37% rise in profit in 2017, to UAH 1.11 billion, the bank has said in a press release.
“For Credit Agricole Bank, this was a successful financial year with a record net profit of UAH 1.11 billion. Along with this remarkable financial result, I would like to emphasize the increase in the bank’s contribution to the economy of Ukraine, which was made possible by increasing the bank’s loan portfolio by 25% in 2017 after growth of 12% in 2016. This positive trend creates the prerequisites for an increase in the bank’s net income in 2018,” the press service of Credit Agricole Bank said, citing CFO Regis Lefevre.
According to the report, the growth of the bank’s profit was achieved due to diversification of the main sources of the bank’s revenues and a decrease in the cost of risk.
Net income of the bank decreased by UAH 86 million or 3% in 2017 compared to 2016, to UAH 2.791 billion thanks to the reduction in currency spreads and the number of currency forward contracts with customers. The decrease in net income of the bank was compensated mainly due to an improvement in the cost of risk, which fell by 68%, or UAH 594 million compared to 2016 and amounted to minus UAH 275 million, the bank said.
Credit Agricole Bank was founded in 1993. Credit Agricole S.A. on January 1, 2017 owned a 99.9961% stake in PJSC Credit Agricole Bank.
Credit Agricole Bank ranked 11th among 88 operating banks in the country on October 1, 2017 by total assets (UAH 30.159 billion), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
Private joint-stock company Weidmann Malyn paper factory (MPF, Zhytomyr region), the only producer of electrical insulating board for power engineering machines in Ukraine, increased production by 5.9% in January 2018 year-over-year, to almost UAH 52.23 million. According to statistics of the UkrPapir association, paper output in natural terms rose by 13%, to 460 tonnes, while cardboard production decreased by 23.6%, to 390 tonnes.
MPF Weidmann is a member of the WICOR international group, the only company in Eastern Europe that can supply almost all kinds of electrical insulating paper and cardboard meeting regional and international standards. In 2017, the factory increased production of commodity goods by 15.9%, to almost UAH 591 million.
