KYIV. April 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers will spend UAH 18-19 billion on road repair and construction across the country, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has said.
“Today we are closer to solving the problem of large-scale road repairs and construction in Ukraine, we’ll allocate about UAH 18-19 billion to do as much as possible in this work across the country,” he said in a video message posted on his personal Facebook page.
Groysman noted that the procedure would take several months “because time was lost, but we’ll cope with that.”
KYIV. April 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine is interested in deepening and expanding bilateral cooperation with the United States in the energy sector, in particular, intends to increase the supply of nuclear fuel produced by U.S. Westinghouse to 30% of the demand, Ukraine’s Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Ihor Nasalyk has said at a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt in Kyiv.
“Further cooperation with Westinghouse is important for Ukraine to diversify nuclear fuel sources at Ukrainian nuclear power plants,” the official said.
The minister expressed commitment to deep and systemic reforms in Ukraine, noting that structural reforms in the energy sector of the country are carried out largely through the support of the United States.
Nasalyk also assured the U.S. official of the implementation of all obligations to transform the energy sector within the framework of the Third Energy Package. In particular, he informed the American colleagues about the situation on the reform of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy and confirmed the statement on the creation of transparent and clear structures instead of a monopoly company.
KYIV. April 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – State-run Oschadbank (Kyiv) saw a 29% profit rise in January through March 2016, to UAH 112 million, the bank has said in a press release.
“Oschadbank in the first quarter of 2016 saw UAH 112 million in net profit, and this was UAH 25.2 million or 29% up year-over-year. Net interest income was UAH 1.809 billion and net fee income – UAH 477.9 million,” the bank said.
Oschadbank was founded in 1991. Its sole owner is the state.
The bank ranked second among 123 operating banks in the country on October 1, 2015 by total assets (UAH 156.596 billion), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
KYIV. April 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Private joint-stock company Otis lift producer (Kyiv) made 849 lifts in 2015, and this was 16.6% up on 2014. The company sold 830 elevators (23.5% up year-over-year).
The company said that the share of lifts of total production in money terms was 47.2% or UAH 322.94 million and of total sales – 41.7% or UAH 305.44 million.
The share of lift doors production decreased to 43.6% (from 48.6% in 2014) and lift door sales – to 39.9% (from 48.3%).
Otis in 2015 made 60,885 lift doors worth UAH 298.22 million and sold 60,000 doors worth UAH 291.89 million.
Earlier the company said that lift doors are supplied to Russia.
Otis last year provided UAH 63.08 million worth of lift services (UAH 64.9 million a year ago).
Otis’ net income under Ukrainian accounting standards grew by 21.5% in 2015, to UAH 731.66 million and net profit decreased to UAH 1.93 million compared to UAH 37.23 million in 2014.
Gross profit slid by 29.6%, to UAH 55.91 million and operating loss was UAH 1.55 million compared UAH 28.76 million of profit a year ago.
Otis has been operating on the Ukrainian market since 1992. It is part of U.S. Otis Elevator, the world’s leading manufacturer of elevators, escalators, and moving walkways. Otis Elevator is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation (UTC).
ZAPORIZHIA. April 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The authorities are intended to set up an export agency, which will be responsible for entrance of the Ukrainian machine building produce to the foreign markets, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said.
“What the state must do today for support of the machine building sector? The export agency will be set up to facilitate entrance of the Ukrainian enterprises of the machine building sector to the foreign markets, political aid for signing mentioned contracts to be granted,” he said during a visit to Zaporizhia region on Friday.
KYIV. April 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s government and the European Commission have signed an agreement on the provision of EUR 97 million for the U-LEAD with Europe: Ukraine Local Empowerment, Accountability and Development Program.
Deputy Prime Minister – Regional Development Minister of Ukraine Hennadiy Zubko and Head of the EU-Ukraine Support Group Peter Wagner signed this agreement, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.
“This is an investment into knowledge and the ability of communities to change, to grow, to establish the new quality of life. As the result of the implementation of this program over the next four years we want to see that we have brought up a new elite of strong and educated people who are willing to take responsibility and be real leaders,” Zubko said.
According to him, EUR 97 million provided by the EU will be spent on training of regional officials in strategic planning, budgeting, monitoring, e-governance, efficient financial management, etc.
The program is designed for four years and is aimed at supporting the local government reform, the decentralization in Ukraine and the regional development.
The U-LEAD program consists of two components: enhanced capacity to implement decentralization and regional policy reforms (education of local authorities of all levels, consultations on different matters, etc) and creating administrative service centres (it envisages the establishment of 600 such centers and training their staff).
The program is implemented in Ukraine by the EU and its member-states Germany, Sweden and Poland through the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Swedish International Development Agency. The funds have been allocated by the EU – EUR 60 million, Germany – EUR 6 million, Sweden – EUR 30 million, and Poland – EUR 1 million.
