KYIV. Sept 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Union supports the entry into effect of the economic section of the Ukrainian-EU Association Agreement on January 1, 2016, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said.
“Good talk with @MalmstromEU [EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom] Pleased that we are on the same page: Ukraine-EU Association Agreement will be fully applicable as of 01.01.2016,” Klimkin said via Twitter.
It was reported earlier that Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk had anticipated that Russia would impose an absolute embargo on Ukrainian agricultural exports starting in 2016, as the Ukrainian-EU free trade agreement takes effect.
KYIV. Sept 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The financial plan of Illichivsk maritime merchant port (Odesa region) in 2015 predicts a net profit of UAH 487.705 million.
According to the plan, which has been posted on the website of the Infrastructure Ministry, the forward-looking indicators foresee a net profit of the company in 2016 in the amount of UAH 478 million, UAH 374.8 million in 2017, UAH 346.9 million in 2018, and UAH 366 million in 2019.
The port’s net income in 2015, according to the plan, will stand at UAH 1.631 billion, UAH 1.599 billion in 2016, UAH 1.199 billion in 2017, UAH 1.079 billion in 2018, and UAH 1.025 billion in 2019.
The EBITDA in 2015 will amount to UAH 679.8 million, UAH 695.3 million in 2016, UAH 546.5 million in 2017, UAH 499.2 million in 2018, and UAH 504.8 million in 2019.
The EBITDA margin will come to 42% in 2015, 43% in 2016, 46% in 2017-2018, and 49% in 2019.
In 2015, the port, according to the financial plan, will pay various fees and contributions to the state in the amount of UAH 783.6 million, UAH 597.7 million in 2016, UAH 529 million in 2017, UAH 481.9 million in 2018, and UAH 479.2 million in 2019.
Capital investment of the port in 2015 is assumed to total UAH 264.2 million, UAH 566 million in 2016, UAH 149 million in 2017, UAH 115 million in 2018, and UAH 115 million in 2019.
KYIV. Sept 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian government has decided to raise its social standards in agreement with the IMF three months ahead of schedule (from September 1 instead of December 1), as it has received confirmation of non-random increased revenues to the budget and the improving economic situation in the country, Minister of Finance Natalie Jaresko has said.
“We are very cautious about the resumption of economic stability and would not like to make any moves until we have assurance that we really have non-equity resources to improve social standards,” Jaresko said at a briefing at the Cabinet of Ministers in Kyiv.
“In late August we put together the puzzle that the economic situation has stabilized and positive trends in the budget fulfillment are not random,” she added.
She said that the stable hryvnia exchange rate, the slowdown of inflation and the pace of economic decline, the better than expected performance of the central and local budgets, as well as the restructuring of external debt were all taken into account.
Jaresko clarified that this premature rise was negotiated with the IMF.
“We are staying within the framework of the program,” she said.
According to her, the 2015 national budget deficit after such an increase will remain within the planned framework.
KYIV. Sept 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has defined a mechanism for introducing the action plan to on implementing court reform, legal processes, and legal institutions for 2015-2020.
Cabinet resolution No. 864-r of August 19 has been posted on the government’s website.
According to the plan, the council for court reform is recommended: to define institutional coordinators to take measures among the authorized agencies, taking into account their competence, consider amending the action plan in part of defining agencies responsible for the realization of the measures and coordinate the implementation of the action plan at the central level. The council is to publish the action plan on its official website and provide regular updates if amendments are made.
The cabinet also ordered that institutional coordinators-ministries and other central executive power agencies should approve the annual plans for 2016 agreed with other agencies and the Finance Ministry within two months. Institutional coordinators should submit the annual plants to the council for court reform, start fulfilling them, and permanently revise them. They are obliged to provide aid to the council on issues linked to the implementation of the plan. Starting from 2016 through 2019, until October 1, institutional coordinators are to approve the annual plans for next year, and before March 1, starting from 2016, inform the cabinet on the state of the implementation of the action plan for the previous year.
KYIV. Sept 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Finance Ministry of Ukraine has preliminarily assessed revenues of the national budget from the legalization of gambling at up to UAH 5 billion, Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko told reporters on Monday.
“According to tentative assessments, this could be up to UAH 5 billion a year of revenues to the budget. Concrete figures would be presented in the budget,” she said.
As reported, Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius has said that he supports the legalization of gambling in the country.
“I personally support [legalization of] gambling, as it means income for the budget,” he said.
According to him, such establishments should be located in four and five-star hotels and the exact size of such establishments should be defined in a way that operators with good reputations from the U.S. and Central and Eastern Europe will come to Ukraine.
The Finance Ministry plans to reduce the individual income tax and single social security tax thanks to the legalization of gambling.
Gambling was banned in Ukraine in the summer of 2009.
KYIV. Aug 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has approved the procedure for considering electronic petitions submitted to the president, which will be a real mechanism for direct communication between the public and the president, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Dmitry Shymkiv has said.
“Petitions are the real mechanism of direct addresses of the public to the president. This is the initiative of Poroshenko, which first was realized in the adoption of the law on amending the law on petitions of citizens in the electronic form and electronic petitions, which the head of state signed a month ago, and now it is transformed in his decree,” Shymkiv said, commenting on the signing of the document, the press service of the head of state reported.
According to the decree, under the law on the petitions of citizens, electronic petitions will be submitted to the president with at least 25,000 signatures collected no more than three months from the date of its publication.
“The petitions will be discussed urgently, but no later than 10 working days from the moment of the publication of information on the start of its consideration. The Presidential Administration is provided for the consideration of the petitions,” the report said.
A working group will be created to consider the petition with the involvement of representatives of the interested agencies, and if required – representatives of civil society, experts, specialists, advisory and other auxiliary agencies and services, the report said.
If the issues raised in a petition touch not only powers of the Ukrainian president, but also other agencies, the relevant agencies will be involved in working on the petitions.
The draft president’s response will be formed within seven days from the day of the publication of information pm the consideration of the petition. Then it is to be submitted to the president.
The notification on support or non-support of the electronic petition by the head of state will be posted on the website of the Ukrainian president and his response will be posted in a dedicated section.
