The visit of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Ukraine and Germany will take place on January 18 to 20, according to a statement released by the U.S. Department of State on Tuesday.
“In Kyiv, Blinken will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to reinforce the United States’ commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
According to the document, on January 20, Blinken will travel to Berlin, where he is scheduled to meet with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
In turn, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said that on January 19, Blinken will pay a visit to Ukraine at the invitation of Foreign Minister Kuleba.
“The visit will be a continuation of close coordination between Ukraine and the United States in order to deter Russia from further aggression,” the ministry said.
It is noted that Kuleba and Blinken will hold talks on the further implementation of a comprehensive containment package for Russia, practical support for Ukraine by the United States, and active diplomatic efforts to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict.”
The parties will also discuss issues of strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States in the areas of security, trade, investment and others.
Ukraine in 2021 imported 8.791 million tonnes of oil products (according to foreign economic activity code 2710: gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, jet fuel, etc.), which is 9.6% more than in 2020 (8.023 million tonnes).
According to the State Customs Service, oil products were imported in the amount of $5.615 billion, which is 65.3% more than in 2020 ($3.397 billion).
Belarus supplied fuel for $2.351 billion (share – 41.87%), Russia – for $1.241 billion (22.09%), Lithuania – for $654.584 million (11.66%), other countries – for $1.369 billion (24.37%).
In addition, Ukraine exported 308,716 tonnes (more 3.3% compared to 2020) of oil products for a total of $192.65 million (up 50.3%). The cost of fuel delivered to counterparties from Latvia amounted to $36.779 million, Estonia – $32.636 million, Malta – $18.81 million, other countries – $104.425 million.
Ukraine increased imports of hard coal and anthracite by 15.4% in 2021 year-on-year (by 2.612 million tonnes), up to 19.563 million tonnes.
According to the State Customs Service, coal was imported for $2.489 billion, which is 47.2% more than in 2020 ($1.691 billion).
Ukraine received $1.545 billion worth of coal (62.09% of imports) from Russia, $494.636 million (19.88%) from the United States, $253.469 million (10.18%) from Kazakhstan and $195.383 million (7.85%) worth of coal from other countries.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that she would soon visit Ukraine along with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and they would visit the country’s eastern regions.
“The two of us will soon visit Ukraine again, we will go to the contact line in Donbas, since in recent weeks I have received information about how much the civilian population is suffering: women, children, young people, the elderly. We have lost sight of them. We must talk about security and peace in the region,” Baerbock said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Monday.
In turn, Kuleba said that during the joint visit of Baerbock and Le Drian to Ukraine, their trilateral meeting will take place, during which they will discuss in detail the prospects for a meeting of Normandy format’s Foreign Ministers.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Ukrainian football player and coach Andriy Shevchenko, fired from the Italian football club Genoa, to work in Ukraine.
“Andriy Mykolayovych, Sheva. Not only our whole country, but the whole of Europe knows what kind of game a team under your leadership is capable of. We believe that you will not come apart, we know that you will become even better! And most importantly. You are most loved in Ukraine. Therefore, go back to work at home,” Zelensky wrote on his Facebook page.
The President noted that “let it be only the first defeat at the beginning of a great career of a great coach.”
Earlier it was reported that the Italian football club Genoa reported on the dismissal of ex-coach of Ukraine’s national football team Andriy Shevchenko.
Ukraine’s GDP growth in 2021 will amount to 3.4% instead of 4.1% expected in April, and economic growth in 2022 is projected at 3.6% instead of 3.7%, such a consensus forecast was posted by the Ministry of Economy on its website.
The direct public debt of Ukraine by the end of 2021 will be cut to 56.9% of GDP, and by 2024 to 47%, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said, presenting a strategy for managing public debt until 2030 at a government meeting on Thursday.
The ICU Group has downgraded its forecast for Ukraine’s GDP growth in 2021 to 2.9% from 5.2% in the spring forecast, Head of ICU Macroeconomic Research Vitaliy Vavryschuk has said.
The real gross domestic product (GDP) of Ukraine in the third quarter of 2021 increased by 2.7% compared to the same period in 2020, the State Statistics Service reported such an updated estimate, while earlier it estimated growth in mid-November at 2.4%.
Alfa Bank (Kyiv) expects real GDP growth in Ukraine in 2022 by 3.4% after its projected growth of 3% over 2021 and a slowdown in the average annual inflation in 2022 to 8.6%, which is 0. 8 percentage points below the expected average annual inflation rate in 2021 (9.4%). Oxford Economics has worsened expectations of real GDP growth in Ukraine in 2022 to 2.8% compared to 3.4% in the November forecast, by the end of 2021 it expects the country’s economy to grow by 3.1% of GDP, as follows from materials of the December forecast, which are available to Interfax-Ukraine.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-October 2021 decreased by 27.7% compared to January-October 2020 – to $2.565 billion from $3.547 billion.
The growth of consumer prices in Ukraine on an annual basis in November 2021 slowed to 10.3% from 10.9% in October and from 11% in September.
The total public debt of Ukraine in November increased by 1.64% in US dollars and amounted to $94.15 billion, as well as by 4.92% in hryvnia – to UAH 2.558 trillion, according to data on the website of the Ministry of Finance, published on Wednesday.
Industrial production in Ukraine in November 2021 increased by 0.4% versus November 2020, which is worse than an increase of 1.4% in October, but better than a decline of 0.7% in September, the State Statistics Service said.
Real wages in Ukraine increased by 8% in November 2021 year-over-year, and compared to October of this year, the growth was 0.9%.
Ukraine in 2021 has a record harvest of grain, legumes and oilseeds of 106 million tonnes: cereals and legumes – 84 million tonnes and oilseeds – 22.6 million tonnes, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Roman Leschenko said on Facebook. Ukraine since the beginning of the 2021/2022 marketing year (MY, July-June) and as of December 29 had exported 31.57 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops, which is 21.1% more than the indicators for the same date of the previous MY.
The volume of construction work performed in Ukraine in November 2021 decreased by 2.7% compared to November 2020.
Publisher of “Open4Business”, PhD in Economics, Maksim Urakin.
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