Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers in 2018 has transferred 1.46 million hectares (ha) of agricultural farmland to more than 659 amalgamated territorial communities (ATC), also known as merged/unified territorial communities, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said.
“We began transferring the land in February 2018. Over the year we gave 659 communities around 1.46 million hectares. Next year we will continue the process, so every newly formed, merged territorial community receives agricultural farmland,” Groysman said on Facebook. He added that on December 22 the government transferred more than 500,000 hectares to municipal ownership of 174 ATCs from 20 regions, completing the process for the communities created before 2018.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food said the transfer of agricultural farmland to ATCs would continue in 2018 for the 185 communities which were formed in 2018.
As earlier reported, the government on January 31, 2018, adopted resolution No. 60-r on transferring ownership of state-owned agricultural land parcels to newly merged communities. The policy facilitated decentralization of land ownership without changing the current legislation.
Ukraine’s State Service for Geodesy, Cartography & Cadastre began the transfer of land from February 1, 2018.
During the first week, 99% of ATCs signed agreements with the service as the first step for receiving the land parcels.
According to the government, some 485 newly merged communities received 958,900 ha of state-owned farmland in the 11 months of 2018.
The Cabinet of Ministers has divided the State Fiscal Service into the State Tax Service and the State Customs Service, the Ministry of Finance has reported on its website. “The reform of the State Fiscal Service will create the basis for the demilitarization of tax authorities, improve the quality of services provided to taxpayers, increase the transparency and accountability of work of tax and customs authorities,” the press service of the agency said citing Deputy Finance Minister Serhiy Verlanov. According to the approved concept of reforming the State Fiscal Service, the tax police will be included in the State Tax Service. Both services will be created as separate central executive bodies, coordinated by the Cabinet through the Minister of Finance.
A commission, headed by Verlanov, will be created for the service reorganization.
The Cabinet intends to hold a tender for the leaders of both services within three months after the approval of a government resolution, the ministry said.
The resolution takes into account the recommendations of the IMF, the Finance Ministry added.
The Cabinet of Ministers has canceled the limits on minimal fees for services by private notaries by annulling a presidential decree of July 10, 1998. A relevant decision was made by the government at its meeting on October 31.
The explanatory note accompanying the draft document, which is available to Interfax-Ukraine news agency, says that the above-mentioned presidential decree in particular imposed limits on the minimal fees in such a way so that they would not be lower than state duty fees, which are charged by government notaries for similar services.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine plans to maintain in the budget for 2019 the main programs of state support for the agro-industrial complex, which are being implemented this year, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said.
“We’ve started a number of new programs this year and decided to keep these programs for the next years. In particular, we give support to each family that will raise calves in the amount of UAH 2,500 per animal. Some 103,800 citizens have already received this assistance, but we assume that this figure will rise by 5-7 times, and we are moving towards this,” he said at a government meeting.
According to the prime minister, next year the government intends to continue compensation for the cost of keeping dairy cows. At the same time, he added that 1,200 agribusinesses have received funds in this area from the state.
“We will continue the program of support for the production of Ukrainian agricultural machinery. Some 2,700 agricultural producers bought Ukrainian goods, part of the cost of which we compensated,” Groysman said.
At the same time, the premier added that the farming support program, under which UAH 1 billion was allocated, is not being fully implemented due to “the existing bureaucratic problems.”
AGRO-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, GOVERNMENT, PROGRAMS, STATE SUPPORT
Several companies and banks are designing a mobile application for buying government domestic loan bonds, Head of the Depositary Operations Department of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Andriy Suprun has said.
“I think that next year, perhaps at the beginning of the year, the purchase of government domestic loan bonds by individuals can occur in several clicks in a mobile application. Several market players are currently working on the creation of this solution,” he said at the annual Ukrainian Financial Forum in Odesa, organized by the ICU investment group.
Suprun said that the NBU, for its part, provides them with the necessary support.
“We are writing an open API [application programming interface] and allow everyone to get involved in this competition, to provide the corresponding service to the market,” he said.
In addition, the representative of the NBU said there will be an opportunity to submit brokerage applications in the primary government domestic loan bonds market in the near term.
“In fact, the next auction can take place with a possibility for any investor to submit applications to the Finance Ministry through primary dealers. This should improve the indicators of attracting funds, primarily from the population,” Suprun said.
In general, he considers these initiatives to be mutually beneficial for the state and the population.
“The state receives a resource, natural persons – a good percentage, almost tax free, in contrast to deposits, as well as a 100% state guarantee for any amount,” he said.
Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalik has said that the Cabinet of Ministers will consider the draft state budget for 2019 at a meeting on September 14. “We will adopt[the draft state budget for 2019 at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers tentatively on Friday,” he told reporters after a government meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Earlier, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said that the Cabinet of Ministers would submit the draft state budget for 2019 to the Verkhovna Rada on time, before September 15.
