The spread of coronavirus in some cases can be recognized as force majeure, the consequences of which did not allow fulfillment of obligations under economic contracts, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine (CCI) Hennadiy Chyzhykov has said. “The CCI of Ukraine receives a large number of requests regarding the recognition of the spread of coronavirus as force majeure. The CCI very carefully approaches this issue and relies on international practice and the legal framework,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, Chyzhykov said that in general “coronavirus, like flu, is not a basis for evidence of force majeure.”
According to him, the basis for evidence of force majeure is the presence of one or more circumstances stipulated by law. Among them are such circumstances, including an epidemic.
In addition, force majeure circumstances may be determined by the parties in the text of the contracts.
“The presence of force majeure circumstances in the contracts such as an epidemic, an emergency situation in the healthcare sector or restrictive actions of the authorities, strengthens the position on the recognition of facts that do not allow the fulfillment of relevant obligations. But it is always necessary to provide evidence that it is coronavirus or measures to combat its spread that are circumstances that could cause the inability to fulfill obligations,” Chyzhykov said.
He also said that a party that refers to force majeure circumstances should contact the competent authority (the chamber of commerce and industry) of the country where these circumstances arose, and obtain the appropriate document (certificate), so that it can be presented to the counterparty according to terms of the contract.
Interchem double liability company (Odesa) donated 200,000 0 doses of an antiviral drug to border guards and medical workers to prevent infection with Chinese coronavirus. Interchem CEO Anatoliy Reder told Interfax-Ukraine that an agreement was reached during a meeting with Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov.
“The main parameters of our proposal are that we offer help and help for free. There are services that are the first to deal with patients who are infected with viruses and have high infection risks. These are border guards, who are staying at the entrance to the country, and employees of infectious hospitals. We will deliver a drug for prevention to employees of State Border Guard Service to all regions of Ukraine and to doctors and medical staff in all infectious hospitals, which are defined as basic medical facilities for hospitalization of those infected with Chinese coronavirus,” he said.
At the same time, Reder said that this is not about treatment, but exclusively about prevention.
“We do not pretend to have a panacea. We do not say that we have a cure for the Chinese coronavirus in our hands. However, we know for sure that the use of the drug gives an additional chance not to get sick,” he said.
Reder said that this drug has a proven immunomodulatory and antiviral effect.
Interchem is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Ukraine. It was founded in 1992. It is the only Ukrainian manufacturer of medicines for hard and cancer patients, as well as one of the drug suppliers under the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria programs.
ANTIVIRAL DRUG, BORDER GUARDS, CORONAVIRUS, INFECTION, INTERCHEM
The Wuhan coronavirus will have a minimum effect on the economy of Ukraine due to low international tourist inflow in the country, Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Minister of Ukraine Tymofiy Mylovanov has said.
“Usually it may directly affect tourism – tourism slows down. Unfortunately, or in this case fortunately, international tourism inflow is low in Ukraine – a mere 2% of GDP,” he said at a press briefing following the government’s meeting on Wednesday, adding that transporters and tour operators, who are working on foreign markets, including China, might suffer some expenses on the evacuation of people, however, in general, the effect will be minimal.
“We are not forecasting a negative effect [of the coronavirus] on goods turnover. Actually, using the opportunity, we have eliminated several trade barriers for export to China, but this is not related to the coronavirus,” the minister said.
The main risks of the new coronavirus pandemic are the additional expansion of the trade deficit and the increase in the cost of external borrowing for Ukraine, Oleksandr Martynenko, the head of the corporate analysis unit at ICU Investment Group, has told Interfax-Ukraine. “Possible restrictions on the movement of people and goods, the deterioration of business sentiment due to an epidemic in China could lead to a slowdown in economic growth in this country. In turn, this may affect the global foreign economic situation, including the demand of countries that are the main foreign trade partners of Ukraine,” he explained.
“Many commodity markets will suffer, as they reflect the expectations of markets for the growth of the global economy as a whole, and these expectations will inevitably worsen in the event of a pandemic. In particular, prices for agricultural exports from Ukraine may also decrease,” Dmytro Khoroshun, an analyst from Concorde Capital, said.
He specified that in Ukraine in the event of an epidemic expansion and a decline in consumption in China, the mining and metallurgy sector (iron ore mining, steel production) could suffer most of all, while a drop in oil prices would be positive for Ukraine. At the same time, the analyst suggested that after the situation with the epidemic/pandemic is resolved, China would dare to further stimulate the economy, which could be a positive factor for iron and steel prices.
At the same time, Martynenko said that the flows of negative information about coronavirus had already done great damage to raw material prices, first of all, oil sagged (about minus 10% since the beginning of last week), followed by copper (5% down) and other metals.
“In the event of a prolonged fight against the virus, the Ukrainian mining and metallurgical complex may suffer due to lower export prices for steel and iron ore. At the same time, a decrease in the world oil prices could compensate for at least part of Ukraine’s losses of export revenue from the mining and metallurgical complex,” the ICU analyst state
