A group of MPs proposes that the Verkhovna Rada introduce fines and deprive drivers of driving licenses for driving in violation of the permissible noise level.
The corresponding bill No. 9564 was registered in Parliament on August 4.
The MPs propose to supplement the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses (CUOAP) with a new provision (Art. 121-4), which provides for administrative liability for driving or operating vehicles in excess of the permissible noise level established by law.
For this offense it is proposed to establish a fixed fine of 1000 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (NMDG), i.e. 17 thousand UAH, and in case of repetition – 2000 NMDG (34 thousand UAH) with possible deprivation of the right to drive vehicles for a period of three to six months.
As noted in the explanatory note, police and courts (in case of repetition) will have the competence to consider cases under Article 121-4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.
At the same time, the draft law introduces corresponding amendments to the laws “On Road Traffic” and “On Ensuring Sanitary and Epidemic Welfare of the Population”.
The prohibition to drive or operate vehicles with violation of the established noise level is proposed to be established exclusively within populated areas, which excludes liability when holding motor sports competitions and other events outside populated areas.
The legislative initiative was co-authored, in particular, by the head of the Servant of the People faction, Davit Arahamiya, the head of the VR committee for youth and sport, Andriy Kozhemyakin (Batkivshchyna), the deputy head of the committee for humanitarian and information policy, Yevheniya Kravchuk (Servant of the People), and a member of the committee for law enforcement, Yuriy Areshonkov (Doveriye group).
Registrations in Ukraine of new commercial vehicles (trucks and specialty vehicles) in July amounted to 975 units, which is almost 9% (or 93 units) less than in June this year, Ukravtoprom reported in its Telegram channel.
As reported, in June, the market showed a 12% increase over the previous month.
“The market of new trucks in July cooled down a bit,” the association states.
Compared to last year’s July, the specialty car market grew by 64%, and the lag from pre-war July-2021 in this segment of the car market is 43%.
The top 5 of the new commercial vehicles market last month were Renault – 276 units; Ford – 91 units; Mercedes-Benz – 76 units; Volkswagen – 66 units and Scania – 53 units.
In total, in January-July 2023, the Ukrainian fleet of trucks and special vehicles was replenished with 6165 new vehicles, which is 62% more than in the same period of 2022.
As reported with reference to Ukravtoprom, in 2022 the market of new commercial vehicles decreased 2.3 times by 2021 – to 6.9 thousand units.
One of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, JV Nibulon LLC (Mykolaiv), has received the second batch of 10 new hopper cars for grain transportation from USAID’s Economic Support for Ukraine project, the company’s press service reported.
“In today’s conditions, it is extremely important for companies working in ports, receiving and sending cargo, to feel international support. Hopper cars, as evidence of this support, will travel throughout Ukraine. So, thanks to the assistance of the USAID project, exporters will be able to retain highly professional staff at blocked river infrastructure facilities and offer better purchase prices to agricultural producers,” the press service quoted Nibulon’s Director of Government Relations and Sustainable Development Michael Rizak as saying.
According to the report, the USAID project will transfer a total of 50 modern hopper cars for Nibulon’s needs, each of which can carry up to 70 tons of grain. They were manufactured at the Experimental Mechanical Plant “Karpaty” (Lviv Oblast) and immediately sent for loading to the grain trader’s branch nearest to production – “Smotrich” near Kamenets-Podilskyi in Khmelnytskyi Oblast. From here they will go to ports in the Danube region.
“To compensate for lost river logistics, which reached 4.2 million tons of grain before the war, Nibulon needs one route train of 50 wagons for each of the blocked river ports. With the railcars from the USAID project, the company will have 212 railcars, which is about half of the need,” the press service of the grain trader specified.
Assistance to agricultural producers and infrastructure companies is part of the Agricultural Sustainability Initiative in Ukraine, implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development. It is aimed at helping Ukraine increase the potential for grain production, storage, transportation and export.
JV Nibulon LLC was established in 1991. Before the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and complexes for receiving agricultural crops, capacity for one-time storage of 2.25 million tons of agricultural products, a fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugboats), and owned the Nikolaev shipyard.
“Nibulon” before the war cultivated 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries.
The grain trader exported the maximum 5.64 million tons of agricultural products in 2021, reaching record shipments to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Nibulon’s losses from the full-scale military invasion of the Russian Federation reached $400 mln. Currently, the grain trader is operating at 30% of its capacity, has created a special unit for demining agricultural land and has started production of the first vessel for demining international waterways at its shipyards in Mykolayiv.
The grain trader recently raised EUR27m from the Danish Export Investment Fund (EIFO) to increase the capacity of the Bessarabsky branch in Izmail, where an elevator and a flour mill will be built.
Forecast of changes in discount rate of National bank of Ukraine, %
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Ferrexpo, a mining company with assets in Ukraine, reduced its capital investments by 43.1% to $58 million in January-June this year, compared to $102 million in the first half of last year.
According to the company’s semi-annual report on Wednesday, capex for the first half of 2023 includes $27 million for maintenance and modernization capex and expansion capex of $31 million across the group.
It is noted that given the operational and logistical constraints due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the group has maintained its levels of sustaining capex investment and is seeking to reduce investment in expansion capex projects, particularly those expected to generate returns in the medium to long term.
Overall in H1-2023, this included $17 million in capitalized stripping works to support future production growth; $7 million in expansion commitments, including the press filter complex; and $2 million in the development of the Belanovsky mine.
Due to the war, the group has suspended significant funding for Wave 1 Expansion projects (Wave 1 Expansion – a combination of mining, concentrating and pelletizing investment projects that will produce an additional 3 million tons of pellets), intending to resume investment once the hostilities and/or risks to the group have ceased.
In addition, the group continues to maintain its net cash position and balance its operational and financial targets. It is clarified that the group’s net cash position has improved from $106 million as at December 31, 2022 to $131 million as at June 30, 2023.
The group has no confirmed debt facilities or unconfirmed trade finance facilities, there are insignificant group debt facilities. The group’s gross debt balance at June 30, 2023 was $4 million compared to $7 million at December 31, 2022.
In addition, it is stated that the group has regularly received VAT refunds during the first half of the 2023 financial year, including overdue balances. Meanwhile, at the end of June-2023, VAT receivables from tax authorities amounted to $47.111 million, compared to $88.762 million at the end of 2022 and $107.552 million at the end of June-2022.
“The overdue VAT balance of $47.149 million at the end of December 31, 2022 was fully collected in January 2023.However, future refunds depend on the situation in Ukraine and how the country is going to cope with state budget constraints as a result of the ongoing war,” the report said.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine.
Ferrexpo owns 100% of Poltava GOK PJSC, 100% of Yeristovskiy GOK LLC and 99.9% of Belanovskiy GOK LLC.
The Supervisory Board of Raiffeisen Bank appointed Sebastian Rubaj for the position of the Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of the Bank. He will assume his duties on this position starting from September 4, 2023.
Sebastian Rubaj will be the Chief Retail Officer.
Before the appointment for this position Sebastian Rubaj (46 years old, from Poland) was a Deputy Chairman of the Management Board in FUIB from September 2014 to April 2023.
Starting from 2007, he held the position of the vice-president, and starting from 2009 – the position of the Chairman of the Management Board of Renaissance Credit Bank. He was also the Board Member of Sygma Bank (Poland) and has experience of working in the Polish branch of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
He got the education in the area of finances and banking in Cracow University of Economics and Hogeschool Brabant Breda.
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Raiffeisen Bank JSC was registered on March 27, 1992, from October 2005 it became a part of the Austrian Banking Group Raiffeisen Bank International AG. As of June 30, 2023, Raiffeisen Group owned 68.21% of the bank’s shares, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development owned 30%.
A wide range of banking services is provided to 2.9 mio customers of Raiffeisen Bank via the network, which includes 300 branches around Ukraine, as well as Raiffeisen Online and Raiffeisen Business Online applications and other remote channels 24/7.
