Energy supplier YASNO is optimizing schedules of power outages to improve the predictability of businesses affected by them, the company’s CEO Serhiy Kovalenko said.
“The schedules will become more convenient for businesses. Previously, the addresses of legal entities, which were located in separate buildings, were not in the schedules of probable blackouts, so they could not determine when the power would be turned off. Now legal entity addresses are being added to the databases, so scheduling will become easier,” he wrote on Facebook Monday night.
He said work is continuing on the feedback to replenish the list of addresses that the company’s customers provide on the scheduling pages. The database has been updated in recent days – about 400 addresses have been added.
In all, YASNO has plugged emergency schedules as of Monday morning to stabilization schedules. A total of 804,000 points were shut down in three turns during the day and stabilized the system at 378 MW.
“Repairs are ongoing, so this situation will continue for some time. Please be patient,” Kovalenko noted.
Earlier, YASNO pointed out that Kiev usually consumes 1,000-1,200 MW.
Micro and small-sized enterprises in nine regions of Ukraine affected by Russian military aggression can apply for micro-grants in the amount of UAH 125,000 (EUR 4,000) through the Diia government portal, according to the Telegram channel of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
“Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of Ukrainian enterprises were forced to stop their work or reduce their activities at times. Therefore, to financially help small business owners who have suffered from Russia’s armed aggression, we are launching grants on the Diia portal,” the ministry said.
According to the report, enterprises that:
– registered no later than December 31, 2021 in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kyiv regions;
– temporarily moved out of these areas;
– suffered as a result of hostilities, but continue to work and can confirm this.
Priority in the selection is given to companies that produce vital goods for Ukrainians and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The selection of applications will be handled by a commission of independent business experts.
It is also reported that the grants became available thanks to funding from the European Union and the German government under the technical support program EU4Business: SME Competitiveness and Internationalization, which is implemented in Ukraine by the German federal company Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, (GIZ) GmbH.
The initiators of the program are the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the Ministry of Economy, the Entrepreneurship Promotion Office and Diia Business. The implementing partner of the program is the East Europe Foundation.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says that more than 150,000 businesses are already switching to a new taxation system – 2% of turnover.
“More than 150,000 businesses are already switching to the new taxation system – 2% of turnover,” Shmyhal said in his address on Monday evening.
Also, according to him, the authorities have already received 1,500 applications for the relocation of Ukrainian manufacturing enterprises, and more than 100 enterprises have already moved and are working.
“The sowing campaign has begun. Now it goes to almost all regions of the country. There are seeds, fertilizers, fuel. The state provided farmers with funding for more than UAH 20 billion. Loans for everyone at 0%,” he said.
Some 85% of 355 business representatives polled by Gradus Research with the support of the Kiev School of Economics (KSE) as part of their study partially or completely suspended the work of their companies due to the war.
“The war has made significant changes in the work of Ukrainian business: about 85% of the business stopped working in partial operation or even stopped work altogether, among which 1% stopped their activities and do not plan to resume, and 35% suspended it, waiting for better times,” the authors of the study said. release on the CSE website.
At the same time, sectoral transformation as one of the ways to save a business from closure turned out to be relevant for 37% of the enterprises that took part in the study – in 21% of cases, a business is in the process of sectoral transformation. At the same time, 16% of respondents have completely or partially transformed, and the same number can potentially join this process.
“The most popular business areas since the beginning of the war have been the retail trade in food and non-food products – in total, up to 24% of the businesses that took part in the study account for these two areas,” the release says.
According to Gradus, 86% of businesses are operating with less workload than before the war, but there are those whose workload has even increased.
“As the difficulties that arise in organizing the work of a business, half of the audience cites a lack of orders. Up to a third of respondents (29%) complain about problems with logistics,” the researchers said.
With regard to government assistance, 37% of respondents, according to the results of the study, are counting on tax holidays.
Other expectations include assistance with organizing logistics, access to cheaper finance, product promotion and keeping key employees from going abroad, military service.
The authors of the study note that the difficult times of business significantly affect the financial support of employees and suppliers – 3-5% of businesses pay relatively large payments, 14-19% make payments at the pre-war level. Other businesses have either reduced the share of payments or stopped altogether – 39% do not pay wages, and 29% do not pay suppliers.
The report clarifies that the survey was conducted by the method of self-completion of the questionnaire in a mobile application in cities with a population of more than 50 thousand people, the sample was 355 respondents.
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba during his working visit to France held a meeting of the business council with representatives of large and medium-sized French businesses, the press service of the ministry reports.
“In subsequent years, huge opportunities open up in Ukraine, in particular in the areas of construction, infrastructure and energy. The president of Ukraine and the government are committed to a large-scale renewal of Ukrainian infrastructure in order to create qualitatively new opportunities for the development of our country and international trade,” Kuleba said and invited French business to take part in two of the most attractive investment areas, namely the Big Construction program of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and large privatization.
Kuleba also clarified that this primarily concerns the construction and concession of roads and bridges, concession and privatization of ports, modernization of border infrastructure, projects for the electrification of public transport, the development of water supply systems, waste treatment, etc.
“This cooperation is not only beneficial, but has an important political significance for strengthening ties between Ukraine and France,” the minister stressed.
In addition, the parties paid special attention to the energy sector. Kuleba emphasized the potential of green hydrogen production in Ukraine and the synchronization of our state with the course of the European Green Deal, which opens up new opportunities in the field of renewable energy.
The minister also drew attention to the achievements of Ukraine in deregulation and simplification of doing business, the adoption and successful implementation of the new law on concessions, the harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with the norms of the European Union. In addition, Kuleba recalled that the Council of Exporters and Investors constantly operates under the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine, which helps investors find new opportunities.
It is noted that the top managers of a number of companies that are already working or are interested in implementing business projects in Ukraine took part in the council: Airbus, Air Liquide, Alstom, Crédit Agricole, Egis, RTE International, TOTAL Eren, Tryba Energy and others. The co-organizer is MEDEF International (Movement of Enterprises of France), which helps French companies establish international cooperation.
The Kyiv city authorities initiate the extension of benefits and simplification of procedures to support small and medium-sized businesses, which were adopted by Kyiv City Council in March 2020.
They will be submitted for consideration by the deputies of the newly elected Kyiv City Council, the press service of Kyiv City State Administration reported.
“Today we have gathered with business representatives to discuss problematic issues that have arisen in connection with the weekend quarantine. I want to note that the city is interested in keeping the quarantine as low as possible. The city budget, like business representatives, incurs losses due to restrictions on the activities of entrepreneurs and non-payment of taxes. In the spring, within the limits of our authority, we introduced a set of measures to support small and medium-sized businesses. Our main task now is to continue these benefits until the end of quarantine. We are honest with our entrepreneurs, we are partners. By joint efforts we will be able to achieve the desired result,” deputy chairman of Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Kharchenko said.
At the same time, he reported that in order to reduce the rate of the virus spread, it is necessary that patients and contact persons strictly adhere to quarantine and self-isolation.
In turn, representatives of the restaurateur community reported that the benefits introduced by the city in March 2020 made it much easier for them to bear the first quarantine restrictions.
Participants in the meeting also discussed the main problematic issues, and based on its results, clear positions were formed, on the basis of which the relevant department will develop a plan for further actions.
BENEFITS, BUSINESSES, KYIV, SMALL BUSINESSES, UKRAINIAN BUSINESSES
