Ukraine ranks 30th in the Integrated Index for Postal Development 2020 (2IPD) among 170 countries in terms of the level of postal development.
The rating is published on the website of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which compiles it.
The top 30 also includes: Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Japan, France, USA, Great Britain, Canada, Singapore, Italy, Belgium, Poland, New Zealand, Ireland, Czech Republic, Australia, China, Russia, Belarus, Slovakia, Portugal, Korea, Sweden, Estonia, Moldova, Thailand, Finland, and Serbia.
The rating was compiled based on criteria for assessing the reliability, reach, relevance, as well as resilience to external and internal shocks of postal companies.
CEO of JSC Ukrposhta Igor Smelyansky said on his Facebook page on Monday, Ukraine entered the top 30 for the first time.
The Business Activity Expectations Index, calculated by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), in August increased by 1 point (p.), to 47.9 after growing in July and June by 1.5 points and 9.6 points respectively, however, remains below the neutral value of 50 points and signals the prevalence of pessimistic business expectations.
“Business is cautiously assessing the results of its activities against the background of the prolongation of the adaptive quarantine. Expectations of enterprises for the fourth month in a row are below the equilibrium values,” the central bank said on its website.
According to the report, in August trade enterprises significantly improved their expectations: the index increased by 4.3 points, to 52.3. The National Bank clarified that the optimistic expectations of respondents in this area are associated with the softening of quarantine and an increase in consumer demand.
It is indicated that representatives of the trade sector are optimistic about the increase in trade (the index increased to 51.5 from 48.9 a month earlier) and the volume of purchases of goods for sale (the index increased to 57.6 from 45.5).
In addition, retailers expect a significant increase in the cost of goods purchased for sale (the index rose to 74.2 from 61.4 in July) due to high purchase prices.
According to the report, despite a slight increase in the index of industry respondents – by 0.8 points – to 48.3, their expectations remain pessimistic. Representatives of this industry downgraded their estimates of stocks of raw materials and supplies (to 42.9 from 52.7 in July), at the same time they strengthened expectations for an increase in prices for their own production (to 63.3 from 59.1 in July).
The index of use of virtual assets by the population of Ukraine is the highest in the world, according to a study by the analytical blockchain company The Chainalysis, posted on the website of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
According to the report, when calculating the index, analysts took into account the cost of sent crypto assets per capita, the balances of crypto assets at the addresses (wallets) of Internet users in Ukraine, as well as the volume of P2P and retail transactions (<$ 10,000), calculated at purchasing power parity.
It is noted that the high performance of Ukraine is due, among other things, to the world's largest (the top three) community of blockchain developers, a significant crypto community, a high level of digital awareness of the population, as well as a high-quality educational intellectual basis and a significant number of small businesses that mediate on international marketplaces where cryptocurrency is used for payments.
In addition, the primacy was influenced by the presence of legal and banking system restrictions on international transfers and a number of restrictions in more traditional areas, in particular the non-availability of a stock market, limited access to the global capital market, and high entry into the real estate market.
"The market of virtual assets in Ukraine is quite developed and has a significant turnover even on a global scale, but most of it is concentrated in the shadow zone, which creates potential risks for both the state, business and users," the press service of the ministry said.
It added that the ministry continues to create a legal framework for regulating the cryptocurrency market in Ukraine and hopes that in September the profile draft law on virtual assets will be considered by the parliament.
The Chainalysis is the leading blockchain analytics company that provides blockchain data and analytics to government and financial institutions, as well as participants in the virtual asset market.
The Business Activity Outlook Index (BAOI) calculated by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) grew by 9.6 points in June, to 45.5 points, which is lower than the neutral index reading of about 50 and means that pessimistic expectations of business prevail, the regulator said on its website on Wednesday.
“Ukrainian business is gradually recovering from the blow that the coronavirus crisis inflicted on it. The NBU poll indicates that the mood of entrepreneurs in June improved. Economic activity gradually recovered, both in Ukraine and abroad, after quarantine restrictions were eased,” the NBU said.
According to the regulator, the new wave of quarantine easing contributed to economic activity of retail companies – the diffuse index (DI) grew to 50.5 points from 37.6 in May.
The service sector also showed better expectations: DI grew by 12.3 percentage points, to 40.8.
Expectations of industrial enterprises, which DI grew from 40.4 to 49.2, also improved.
Construction enterprise expect the worsening of its activities: DI in June fell by 4.1 pp, to 36 points.
Employment assessments of all sectors retain pessimistic.
The consumer confidence index in Ukraine in May 2020 improved by 10.1 points, to 76.3 points on a 200-point scale, and Ukrainians’ assessment of their current situation by 5.9 points, to 57.4 points, according to the research agency Info Sapiens.
“The consumer confidence Index in May increased and reached the level of March 2020. The main factor of growth is the improvement of expectations regarding personal financial situation, which is probably related to the termination of strict quarantine. At the same time, assessments of current personal financial situation and the propensity to make big purchases remain low and have not returned to the pre-quarantine level,” Info Sapiens analysts comment.
“The Index of Propensity to Consume (х5) increased by 9.8 p. and reached the indicator of 55.1. The Index of Current Personal Financial Standing (х1) equaled 54.3, which is 2.0 points higher than the indicator in April,” the agency said on its website.
“In May, Index of Economic Expectations (ІЕE) increased by 12.9 points to the level of 90.7. The components of this index have changed as follows: the Index of Expected Changes in Personal Financial Standing (х2) increased by 22.7 points comparing to the previous month and equals 92.5, the Index of Expectations of the Country’s Economic Development over the next year (х3) increased by 19.1 points and equals 73.7, the Index of Expectations of the Country’s Economic Development over the next 5 years (х4) slightly decreased to the level of 106.0, which is 3.2 points lower than in April,” according to the document.
“In May, the indicator of Index of Expectations of Changes in Unemployment equaled 151.8, which is 17.1 p. lower than previous month. The Index of Inflationary Expectations decreased to the level of 165.4, which is 7.2 points lower than last month. Expectations of Ukrainians regarding the hryvnia’s exchange rate in the coming three months have improved: the Index of Devaluation Expectations decreased by 10.3 points and reached the level of 136.5,” the agency said.
The Business Activity Outlook Index (BAOI) with a BAOI reading above the neutral level of 50 implying a positive business outlook and below the neutral level implying a negative business outlook compared with the previous month grew by 2.1 points in September, to 56.6, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said on Wednesday. “In September, all sectors approved the results of economic activity. Enterprises also expected growth in new orders, cost of contractor services and purchase prices. Companies that provide services were optimistic,” the NBU said in the study.
According to the results of the survey in September, the companies that provide services and industrial enterprises are the most optimistic, for which the index was 57.3 and 58.1 respectively.
According to the report, the largest increase in BAOI was seen in the construction sector – by 7.6 points (to 56.2), thanks to a significant increase in the optimistic expectations of enterprises regarding product prices, the emergence of expectations about the volume of purchases of raw materials and optimistic attitude about the increase in the number of employees in the field.
Along with the general increase in BAOI, the indicator fell by 1 point (to 54.5) in the field of trade. According to the results of the study, despite high estimates of trade turnover, expectations about the goods stocks remain pessimistic.
