The actual selling price of oil and condensate used in determining the royalty for subsoil use in August 2023 amounted to UAH 19,775/tonne, which is 15.1% more than in July (UAH 17,178/tonne). The relevant data is published on the website of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine.
As reported, in January 2023, the actual selling price amounted to UAH 13,297/tonne, in February – UAH 13,251/tonne, in March – UAH 12,522/tonne, in April – UAH 15,515/tonne, in May – UAH 14,158/tonne, in June – UAH 14,673/tonne, in July – UAH 17,178/tonne.
The Verkhovna Rada has supported the introduction of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the appointment of Rustem Umerov to the post of Minister of Defense of Ukraine.
In general, 338 deputies voted for the adoption of relevant draft resolution No. 10004 at the plenary session on Wednesday, said Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a member of the Holos faction.
“The Parliament has appointed Rustem Umerov as the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. All the factions supported it,” the parliamentarian wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the President of Ukraine submits a motion on the appointment of Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs to the Rada.
Rustem Umerov has been the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) since September 7, 2022. Before that, in 2019, he was elected an MP of the IX convocation from the Holos party (No. 18 on the list as an independent MP) and became a member of the faction of the same name.
In the Ukrainian Parliament, he held the position of Secretary of the Committee on Human Rights, de-occupation and reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, national minorities, and was also a deputy member of the Permanent Delegation to the Council of Europe and co-chairman of the parliamentary inter-factional association Crimea Platform.
In September 2020, Umarov joined the group on the development of the state strategy for the occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC).
Umerov is a Ukrainian politician, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, a member of the Ukrainian delegation at negotiations with Russia, a delegate of the Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar people.
Africa’s population growth rate threatens that the continent’s resources will no longer be enough to meet the needs of its inhabitants, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Tuesday.
“On the African continent, we will reach the 1.6 billion mark within a few years. Africa is abundant with resources, but they cannot help everyone,” Arab news quoted the president as saying at the first Global Congress on Population, Health and Development, which runs from September 5 to 8 in Cairo.
He noted that the congress should be held annually due to the urgency of the problem.
According to the president, the number of Egyptian citizens reaches 105 million, and in addition to them, there are another 9 million people in the country, but the Egyptian government, unlike some other countries, manages to cope with the related challenges. At the same time, al-Sisi clarified, the ratio between national resources and population growth has become less optimal over the past 75 years, and this has affected the health and education system.
For his part, Egyptian Health Minister Khalid Abdel Ghaffar emphasized that demographic growth is the most serious challenge for the country. Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Sayed noted that although the birth rate has declined, Egypt’s population has grown by another 25 million people over the past 10 years.
Earlier, the Experts Club project released an analytical video about economic relations between Egypt and Ukraine.
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Citizens of Ukraine who left for the EU countries after the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, evaluate online public services in Ukraine much better (71%) than in the EU countries (16%).
As noted in the results of the “All-European survey of Ukrainians in Europe”, conducted by the sociological group “Rating” on July 4-11, financial and banking services in Ukraine will also significantly benefit (70% vs. 14% in the EU). Ukrainians also assessed the sphere of medicine better in Ukraine than in Europe: both the availability of medical services (71% vs. 21%) and their quality (60% vs. 25%).
Preschool and school education was better in Ukraine (42%) than in the EU (35%), higher education – on the contrary: slightly better in the EU (43%) than in Ukraine (32%). Ukrainian students of European universities agree more than others that higher education is better in the EU.
The absolute majority of Ukrainians surveyed agreed that public transportation is much better in the EU (77%) than in Ukraine (14%). The opinion is similar regarding European roads, which are considered better there (85%) than in Ukraine (5%). But respondents consider housing in Ukraine more affordable (57%) than in the EU (22%).
According to Ukrainians, Ukraine has a much better beauty industry than the EU (85% vs. 5%), as well as cafes and restaurants (60% vs. 16%), postal and delivery services (54% vs. 25%), online shopping (51% vs. 22%), but with regard to retail chains and stores, opinions are divided: 42% consider them the best in Ukraine, 36% – in the EU.
Ukraine loses a lot to European countries in the level of corruption, however, in terms of bureaucracy and taxation rates, at home, according to the majority, more favorable climate than in the EU. 84% of respondents believe that the level of corruption in Ukraine is higher than in the EU (3%), at the same time the level of bureaucracy is higher in the EU than in Ukraine (50% vs. 25%). Also, according to the respondents, the level of taxation is higher in Europe (59%) than in Ukraine (16%). However, by the level of economic freedom Ukraine (25%) is inferior to Europe (52%), as well as by the level of income (3% vs. 87%).
87% of respondents assessed opportunities in the EU as a whole as higher than in Ukraine, especially in income (87% vs. 3%), social security (75% vs. 15%), protection of rights and freedoms of citizens (67% vs. 19%), opportunities to live comfortably (60% vs. 26%), to find a job (54% vs. 30%). According to the respondents, it is possible to succeed both in the EU (40%) and in Ukraine (41%), but doing business is still somewhat better in Ukraine (45%) than in the EU (34%).
4% of Ukrainians have bribed an official in the host country (most often in southern Europe), the same number refused to answer.
The study anonymously interviewed 2116 Ukrainians aged 18 and older who found temporary asylum in 31 European countries after February 24, 2022 using the CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing) method. Results are weighted using current UNHC (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) data. The study’s representativeness error at a confidence level of 0.95: no more than 3.2%.
Stably high interest rates in the world’s largest economies mean that global economic growth is likely to slow in 2024 after this year’s rate of recovery exceeded expectations, the Financial Times writes, citing the opinion of economists.
Thus, according to the forecast of the consulting company Consensus Economics, in 2024 GDP will grow by 2.1% compared to 2.4% expected in the economy this year. Meanwhile, the estimate for 2023 was raised from the 1.4% assumed at the beginning of the year due to unexpectedly strong consumer demand and labor market.
Capital Economics senior global economist Simon Macadam also believes that the expected slowdown in economic growth next year will be partly due to a more substantial rebound in 2023. However, he added that economists “have actually become more pessimistic about the outlook for 2024”.
This is due to beliefs that persistently strong demand will keep inflation higher for longer, pushing advanced economy Central Banks to keep rates high throughout the year.
“Demand is barely weakening, the labor market remains strong, and wages continue to rise,” notes Citi Chief Economist Nathan Sheets. – Some of the weakening in the economy (which was expected this year – IF-U) is being carried over to 2024.” In many countries, including the U.S., “there will be a recession, it will just come later,” he predicts.
Until a few months ago, the Federal Reserve was expected to start cutting rates this year. But the resilience of the U.S. economy indicates there is a small possibility that the Fed could raise borrowing costs by another quarter-point in September, to 5.5-5.75% per annum. And economists now expect the first rate cut to occur next spring.
The high probability that the U.S. economy will avoid recession this year “means the Fed will hold rates higher longer to fully suppress inflation, leading to slower growth in 2024,” according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
On average, economists forecast the U.S. economy to rebound 0.6% in 2024 after expanding 1.9% at the end of this year.
Europe’s economies have also performed “somewhat better than expected” this year, with the exception of Germany, meaning the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also likely to keep rates on hold for longer, Zandi said.
The ECB raised its deposit rate from minus 0.5% per annum in June 2022 to the current 3.75% and is not expected to cut it for most of next year. The Bank of England is forecast to increase its cost of borrowing by a further half a percent to 5.75% by the end of this year and is unlikely to start cutting it until the second half of 2024.
Christian Keller, head of economic research at Barclays, notes that the negative investor sentiment towards 2024 is also due to a slowdown in China’s GDP growth after a significant acceleration following the removal of anti-Kowitz restrictions.
Experts Club Research Project and Maxim Urakin recently released an analytical video on the Ukrainian and global economies
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U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will announce more than $1 billion in new aid for Ukraine during his visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, September 6, CNN reports, citing a senior State Department official.
According to CNN, the US Secretary of State arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday to meet with key Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
The TV channel also notes that Blinken’s visit is an opportunity for the United States and Ukraine to unite ahead of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) later this month, a senior State Department official traveling with Blinken told reporters.
“The Ukrainians have an important mission in New York – to continue to explain to their allies and partners around the world what’s going on and their continued need for support. And it is important for us to continue to lead this global effort to support them. Being able to consult and agree before we get to New York is very, very important,” the official said.
According to media reports, Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday morning after an overnight train ride from Poland. This is his third visit to the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
