ICU Investment Group has improved its forecast for the fall of Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 5% from 5.7%, head of the group’s macroeconomic research department Serhiy Nikolaichuk has said.
“In total, the economy will contract by about 5% in 2020 (compared to 5.7% in our September forecast). This will lead to a decrease in GDP below the level of 2018, but compared to most other countries, the Ukrainian economy will demonstrate better dynamics,” he wrote on Facebook.
According to the investment group, GDP growth in Ukraine in the fourth quarter of this year and in the first quarter of the next (to the previous quarters) will be “slow and rather shaky.”
“However, the pace will still be positive,” the expert specified.
He also noted that the impetus from the “opening of the economy” after tough quarantine restrictions, which affected the decline in GDP fall in the previous quarters, has exhausted, so further growth will require other drivers.
“The new outbreak of COVID-19 continues to gain momentum, indicating that the recently introduced weekend quarantine could be replaced with tougher measures across the country,” Nikolaichuk added.
At the same time, he noted that against the background of the return of income to the “pre-epidemic trajectory,” active growth of private consumption continues, and the weakness of private investment is compensated by the ongoing projects of Big Construction.
Nikolaichuk added that ICU expects a significant fiscal impulse for the economy at the end of 2020, despite the fact that it will be lower than provided for in the law on the national budget.
MS Social Project LLC (Kyiv), part of the ICU Group, will invest in construction of the largest unsegregated solid household waste treatment plant in Zhytomyr using a custom technology, ICU reported on Thursday. “The amount of our investments in the construction of the plant will be from EUR 7 million to EUR 10 million… After the implementation of this project in Zhytomyr we are considering the possibility of building this type of plants in other cities of Ukraine,” the company said in a press release, citing the managing partner of ICU Kostiantyn Stetsenko.
According to the document, Tehnix (Croatia), which is the equipment manufacturer and developer of MBT technology (mechanical, biological and thermal treatment of solid municipal waste) was selected a contractor for the implementation of the project. Tehnix has built and commissioned more than 50 similar plants in the EU countries, in the countries where solid household waste, as well as in Ukraine, is not segregated at home.
ICU said that the design capacity of the plant involves the processing of about 82,000 tonnes of solid waste per year. The preliminary construction period of the facility is one year from the moment of obtaining the required permits. It is planned that the plant will operate in two shifts, and the number of workers will be 150 people.
The depth of treatment using this technology will reach 85-95%, and its result will be the receipt of secondary raw materials, alternative refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for cement plants and compost from the organic fraction of solid waste, ICU said.
According to Stetsenko, this innovative technology has proved its effectiveness in many countries, as well as it does not provide for emissions into the environment. It has its own sewage treatment system. He added that the company is also considering this project not only as a business, but also as an important social project.
