The mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Ron van Rooden started working in Kyiv on Thursday, the IMF representative office in Ukraine has told Interfax-Ukraine. The IMF representative office said that the mission arrived in Kyiv the day before.
As IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine Goesta Ljungman reported in the middle of August, the IMF mission will visit Kyiv during September 6-19, 2018, to discuss recent economic developments and policies.
Ljungman also said that the mission will also discuss next steps, including financial assistance from the IMF in support of policies to maintain macroeconomic stability and keep the economy on a path toward sustainable and inclusive growth.
Ukraine’s Acting Finance Minister Oksana Markarova said that Ukraine plans to discuss all current issues with the IMF and continuation of cooperation after the completion of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) in March 2019.
According to her, the successful fourth review of the IMF EFF and the receipt of the fifth tranche of $2 billion will open the way to attract financing to the national budget on preferential terms, using the World Bank’s guarantee for$ 800 million, as well as receiving macro-financial assistance from the EU for EUR 1 billion.
In turn, NBU Governor Yakiv Smolii said that approaching the prospect of receiving financing from the IMF will have a positive impact on the state of the currency market of Ukraine and will also improve the government’s ability to borrow on the international capital markets.
“The arrival of the IMF mission to Kyiv is a step towards reducing uncertainty regarding the further development of the situation in the Ukrainian economy and improving the expectations of market participants,” the head of the NBU said in the middle of August.
As reported, the four-year-EFF program worth SDR 12.348 billion (about $17.46 billion at the current forex rate) was launched in March 2015 with a first disbursement of $5 billion. It originally suggested a quarterly review of the program, the allocation of three more tranches worth SDR 1.18 billion each in 2015 and a reduction in quarterly disbursements in 2016-2018 to SDR 0.44 billion ($0.61 billion).
Under the ongoing program, Ukraine has managed to receive a second tranche worth $1.7 billion early in August 2015 with a little delay, which was followed by a long break as Ukraine had failed to meet a number of conditions, which was aggravated by the political crisis and government reshuffles.
Talks on further financing resumed after the appointment of a new Cabinet of Ministers headed by Volodymyr Groysman in April 2016. However, the IMF decided to issue a third disbursement worth $1 billion only in the middle of September 2016 and a fourth one on April 3, 2017.
Since July 2017 Ukraine has been in a complicated negotiating process with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the gas issue. The IMF insists on raising the price of gas for the population, which, according to various estimates, may range from 30% to 60% due to rising prices in international markets, while the prime minister had previously pointed out the irrationality of such a sharp increase.
A government source said that during this period Ukraine offered the IMF at least eight options of changing the formula for gas prices, based on observance of the principles agreed upon with the IMF.
The Fund’s position is quite tough, as the government last year decided to raise gas prices that allowed Ukraine to receive a tranche from the IMF, but subsequently unilaterally refused to implement it.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on June 19, 2018 said that the implementation of the actions related to gas prices is critical to allow the completion of the pending review under Ukraine’s IMF-supported program.
She said that another action is critical: observing the upper limit for the budget deficit.
Real wages in Ukraine in July 2018 compared to July 2017 increased by 14.7%, compared to June 2018 by 1%, the State Statistics Service has reported. It said the average nominal wage of full-time employees in July 2018 compared to June 2018 rose by 0.3%, in annual terms by 24.9%, amounting to UAH 9,170, while in June it was UAH 9,141, in May UAH 8,725, in April some UAH 8,480, in March some UAH 8,382, in February some UAH 7,828, and in January UAH 7,711.
According to statistics, the largest growth in the average wage of full-time employees in July 2018 compared with July 2017 was recorded in Lviv region (by 30.4%), Ternopil (28%), Poltava (27.9%), Ivano-Frankivsk (27.2%), Zhytomyr (27.1%), Kyiv (27%), Dnipropetrovsk (26.9%), Zakarpattia (26.5%), Volyn (26.4%), Vinnytsia (25.7%), Rivne (24.9%), Odesa (24.7%), Chernihiv (24.5%), Kirovohrad (24.4%), Khmelnytsky (23.9%), Zaporizhia (23.5%), Kharkiv (22.7%), Chernivtsi (22.6%), Cherkasy (22.5%), Mykolaiv (22.4%), Sumy (21.4%) and Kherson (20.7%) regions and Kyiv city (21.2%).
Wage growth in Donetsk and Luhansk regions (excluding part of the joint forces operation) was 23.8% and 31.7% respectively.
The highest level of wages in the past month was recorded in Kyiv at UAH 13,836, the lowest one in Chernihiv region at UAH 7,168.
Municipal enterprise Kyivkomunservice has started accepting applications for a tender to select the provider of waste recycling and disposal services in Kyiv, the press service of the Kyiv City Administration has reported. According to the report, the applications can be submitted before September 28.
According to the tender documentation on the website of the company, the minimum capacity of the recycling enterprise should be 426,000 tonnes, while the annual volume of household waste produced in Kyiv is 1.2 million tonnes.
The new waste processing plant should be located near the geographical center of Kyiv.
Participants in the tender should have experience in creating and operating waste recycling facilities. The winner of the tender will be obliged to provide waste treatment services for at least 25 years from the time the facility is put into operation.
The first stage of the tender is the assessment of contestants’ complying with the qualifying conditions, it will begin in late September. The second stage involves evaluating proposals from participants in the competition.
As reported, with reference to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, the new waste recycling plant in Kyiv is to be built within the next two or three years.
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS, BUILDING WASTE, KYIV, RECYCLING PLANT
Department of Tourism and Promotions at Kyiv State City Administration plans to increase the flow of foreign tourists in the capital by 25% compared to 2017, to 2 million people, head of the department Anton Taranenko has said.
“Our plan for this year is 2 million foreign tourists, this year we almost got closer to the level of 2013. This summer has become record in the past four years. Over half a year later, in 2018, more than 850,000 foreign tourists visited Kyiv, whereas in the similar the period of 2013 there were 660,000,” he said at a press briefing on Monday.
According to Taranenko, the “profile” of tourists visiting Kyiv in recent years has changed: if in 2013-2014 more than 50% of them were from Russia and post-Soviet countries, then the top five in the past year are Belarus, Israel, the United States, Germany and Turkey.
“Belarus is in the lead due to the fact that a large number of Belarusians come to Kyiv, get accommodated here for a day or two, and then go to the Black Sea coast, that is, it is short-term tourism. Israel is growing every year, and representatives of the tourist cluster of the United States and Germany are going to Kyiv due to the return of cruises to Kyiv. Turkey is always in the top five, and there is also a flow from Italy, France and the UK,” he said.
According to him, the segment of foreign leisure tourists has been growing recently.
Taranenko told Interfax-Ukraine in a comment that the ratio of “conventional” tourists to those who travel to attend an event or on business trip in the first half of 2018 was 40% to 60%, while in 2017 business tourism accounted for 70% of the entire flow. According to him, this equalizes the occupancy of hotels in the leisure season (from May to October) and in the traditional business travel season (September-May).
“In general, hotels feel much better than in previous years. The average occupancy rate from May to September is 45-50%,” he said.
Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport (Zhuliany) in January-July 2018 serviced around 1.5 million passengers, according to a posting on the official Facebook page of the airport. “On August 1, 2018, the airport serviced a 1.5 millionth passenger since the beginning of the year. The figure is indicative. It indicates the rapid and confident development of the airport. In August 2017, Hlib Deineha became the millionth passenger, he was then 3.5 years old,” the airport said.
In July, the airport serviced 351,000 passengers, which is 59.4% more than in July 2017; including 342,200 on international flights and 8,800 passengers on domestic flights. The number of flights in July 2018 was 3,328 for the arrival and departure, which is 34.1% more than the same period in 2017; of which 2,874 international flights and 454 domestic flights. The most popular international destinations in July 2018 were Antalya (Turkey), Sharm-El-Sheikh (Egypt), Minsk (Belarus), Warsaw (Poland), Ankara (Turkey), Batumi (Georgia), Tivat (Montenegro); internal – Odesa, Zaporizhia and Lviv.
In January-July 2018, the Kyiv airport serviced 1.5 million passengers, which is 64.8% more than in January-July 2017; of them 1.45 million passengers on international flights and 49,500 passengers on domestic flights.
The number of flights in January-July 2018 amounted to 16,834 for the arrival and departure, which is 38% more than the same period of 2017, of them 14,182 international flights and 2,652 domestic flights. The most popular international destinations since the beginning of 2018 have been Minsk (Belarus), Dubai (UAE), Antalya (Turkey), Ankara (Turkey), Warsaw (Poland), Rome (Italy), Budapest (Hungary); internal – Odesa, Zaporizhia and Lviv.
The press service said that the airport plans to service 2.8 million passengers by the end of 2018.
Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany) is located in the business center of the capital, seven km from the city center. It is the second largest airport in Ukraine in terms of the number of flights and passenger traffic. The airport has three terminals with a total area is 21,000 square meters. Terminal B is separate facility for business-class service, it is part of the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) system. The airport’s runway is able to handle B-737 and A-320 aircraft. In Q1 2018, the airport serviced 442,000 passengers, which is 50.4% more than in Q1 2017.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) from October 25, 2018 will launch direct flights from Kyiv to La Romana (the Dominican Republic) and from December 27 – to Goa (India). According to the press service of the airline, flights to the Dominican Republic will be serviced on Mondays and Thursdays with an interval of ten days. UIA also optimizes the winter season schedule for 2018/2019.
In particular, since December 20, the airline will increase the frequency of flights between Kyiv and Bangkok to six a week, Kyiv and Istanbul – up to three daily flights. At the same time, the intensity of flights between Kyiv and Almaty will be reduced from seven to four, and between Kyiv and Astana – up to three flights a week.
“In the winter, the frequency will be slightly reduced on such European destinations from Kyiv as Larnaca, Venice, Athens, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Frankfurt, Brussels, Riga, Vilnius, Stockholm, Helsinki, London, Copenhagen, Ankara, Milan (Bergamo), Prague and Vienna, the frequency of long-haul flights to Beijing and Toronto will be reduced by one and two flights a week, respectively,” the press service of the airline said.
Also, a slight reduction in the number of flights to Tel Aviv, Baku, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Amman and Tehran is planned.
From the regions of Ukraine, there will be less direct international flights from Ivano-Frankivsk to Valencia and Alicante, and also from Lviv to Madrid.
One flight a week less will be serviced from Kyiv to Kharkiv and Lviv.
UIA was founded in 1992. According to the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market and the state register, 100% directly or indirectly is controlled by Cypriot-based Ontobet Promotions Limited which beneficiaries are not disclosed.
