KYIV. April 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Nova Poshta (Kyiv) plans to expand its operation in international markets in 2015, the co-founder of the company Viacheslav Klimov said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that two companies – Nova Poshta Moldova and Nova Poshta Georgia – were previously created and that test deliveries to the countries have been made.
“We’ve faced rather serious obstacles linked to Ukrainian law in the customs area. These are external factors for us with which we could work. There are Nova Poshta employees in the two countries, and they are working on the organization of deliveries from/to Ukraine and in the domestic market of the countries,” he said.
Klimov said that the two countries differ considerably.
“If Georgia is a European country with large influence and presence of leaders of global express delivery, in Moldova there is no such market, and the main problem is to explain what we offer, as it was in Ukraine in early 2000s. Anyway, we’re satisfied with starting this market venture, despite the crisis. This is a huge experience, and we believe it [to be] an element of development. I’m absolutely sure that in 2014 Nova Poshta would appear in several other countries,” he said.
Klimov did not disclose what other countries the company plans to enter.
When asked if the strategy is justified, Klimov said that it is absolutely justified, as Ukraine is becoming more and more open for Europe and the world each day, despite the events happening in Ukraine.
KYIV. April 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Britain’s Hunnewell Partners, the manager of a fund worth around $1 billion, has opened an office in Kyiv to invest in Ukrainian assets, member of the National Commission of Ukraine for Energy and Housing and Utility Services Regulation (NCER) Andriy Herus has said.
“In plans is to invest $100 million in projects in Ukraine by late 2016. We want to believe that this is the start of a trend,” Herus wrote on his Facebook page.
Herus told Interfax-Ukraine that Hunnewell Partners has leased space in the Gulliver shopping center in Kyiv. At present, its employees are selecting projects, including in the energy and agricultural sectors. The commission plans to offer some investment projects in the energy sector.
Hunnewell Partners was founded in September 2011. Its core business is venture investment.
KYIV. April 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The parliamentary committee for tax and customs policy supports the reduction of the additional imports duty of 5-10% approved in late 2014, Committee Chairman Roman Nasirov said at the National Export Forum.
“Taking into account the upward pace of foreign trade with goods in the first months of 2015, the imports duty could be revised downwards… I could say for sure that the tax and customs committee will support the decision,” he said.
Nasirov said that the introduction of the additional imports duty affected the Ukrainian processing industry as the cash cost and the price of goods exported from Ukraine grew.
As reported, on February 25, 2015, due to worsening of the balance of payment Ukraine introduced the additional imports duty on all goods, apart from critical imports stipulated in the law on the stabilization of Ukraine’s balance of payment passed by the Ukrainian parliament in late 2014.
The law foresees the introduction of a 10% duty on finished food, fats, vegetable oil and butter, alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks, tobacco, vinegar, live animals (goods groups 1-24 under the Ukrainian code). The 5% duty is imposed on any other goods, apart from vitally important goods, including energy goods and some drugs.
KYIV. April 20 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The joint venture of PJSC Kharkiv Tractor Plant and Sampo Rosenlew (Finland) intends to start producing about 200 harvesters from 2016, and by 2018 to increase output to 500 units per year.
“This year we plan to assemble an experimental batch of harvesters, certify them and, starting from 2016, at least 200 combines will be assembled, and by 2018 we will reach the amount of at least 500 units,” Kharkiv Tractor Plant CEO Vladyslav Hubin said, when signing a memorandum of cooperation with the Finnish company.
He said that the localization of production in Ukraine will help reduce the cost of 3085 series combines by 20%.
As reported, a contract to create a joint venture by Kharkiv tractor plant and Sampo Rosenlew was signed in December 2014. The plant in 2014 produced and sold 1,455 tractors, which is 10.4% or 137 units more than a year ago, and this year the plant plans to sell more than 2,000 tractors (37.5% up).
Last year the company sold tractors to more than 30 countries and was present in the markets of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Sampo Rosenlew is a Finnish company, which is engaged in the production of harvesters and forestry equipment. Sampo Rosenlew supplies products to over 50 countries. The main markets of the company are the Nordic countries, North Africa, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Belarus.
KYIV. April 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ukrainian government expects 2% growth in GDP in 2016.
“We are very cautious about the prospects for 2016. At the same time, our forecasts coincide with those of the IMF: both the government and the IMF expect GDP growth in 2016 at ‘plus 2%’,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said during a meeting of the National Tripartite Social and Economic Council.
He said that GDP growth was impeded by the lack of foreign investors.
“It is no use to expect that foreign investors will come in 2015, it is too early: there is war, and a country that is at war with Russia cannot quickly become attractive for investment,” Yatseniuk said.
He said that this year will form the foundation for the beginning of economic growth in 2016.
In this regard, Yatseniuk announced the continuation of tax reform, the establishment of an effective system of VAT refunds, and for the search for new markets for Ukrainian products to continue.
The social and economic situation in Ukraine remains extremely complicated, and the reform implementation process is very slow. The country’s economy exhibited no growth in the first months of 2015 – industrial production January through February 2015 was 21.7% down year-over-year. During these hard times businesses are ready to offer their support to the government and consolidate their efforts to overcome the crisis. Industrialists and entrepreneurs discussed these issues at a joint meeting of the Anti-Crisis Council of Non-Governmental Organizations and the Management Board of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE).
The ULIE and the Anti-Crisis Council of Non-Governmental Organizations, which includes more than 80 business associations, drew up the Anti-Crisis Program of Joint Actions of the Government and Businesses, and the business community has submitted it to the Ukrainian government. Businesses think that the measures they suggest could stop the slump in industrial output, improve the living standards of households, and give the economy a chance of development. “Our program is based on an unbiased depoliticized analysis of the situation in the country and utilizes the practice of many enterprises in recent months. It calls on the government for partnership as long as only effective cooperation between the state and the real sector of the economy could bring good results. We insist that a modern industrial strategy of the country should be elaborated, an export policy should be developed, the economy should be streamlined to meet European standards as soon as possible, the taxation and investment environment should be reformed, while specific conditions should be created for small- and medium-sized businesses and self-employed citizens,” ULIE President Anatoliy Kinakh said.
Industrialists and entrepreneurs believe that particular attention should be devoted to social protection and the introduction of effective targeted relief aid for vulnerable social groups.
Businesses’ associations also demand that the government create a favorable business environment, protect and support national producers, and create financially sustainable and developed regions in Ukraine. The Anti-Crisis Program suggests measures to improve the monetary policy of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), eliminate problems with energy security, facilitate energy efficiency and energy saving, fight against corruption, decentralize power, develop better personnel policies and restore Ukraine’s labor potential.
The ULIE is sure that the Anti-Crisis Program of Joint Actions of the Government and Businesses should become an integral part of the adopted Action Plan of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Coalition Agreement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
