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.
Previously Experts Business Club created a video summary dedicated to macroeconomics. Full video watch here
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky reported that he and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev had signed a joint declaration on readiness to implement specific projects in areas of mutual interest of the countries.”This is mutual support for sovereignty and territorial integrity, ensuring peace and stability in the Black Sea-Caspian region and beyond, intensifying cooperation in countering hybrid threats, strengthening cooperation in the defense industry, deepening cooperation within international and regional organizations and forums,” Zelensky wrote on his Facebook page.Zelensky said that Ukraine and Azerbaijan have historically had close and fruitful cooperation and will soon mark 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the states.The head of the Ukrainian state noted an increase in trade between Ukraine and Azerbaijan in 2021, despite the coronavirus pandemic. According to him, the countries do not intend to stop there.”With Mr. President Aliyev, we set ourselves the goal of doubling the volume of bilateral trade in the next two years,” Zelensky said.In addition, plans were discussed in detail with the Azerbaijani delegation on how to fill with new content the cooperation between the two countries in trade, economic, fuel and energy, military-technical, infrastructure, aircraft building, agro-industrial, cultural and humanitarian spheres.The parties also agreed to hold a meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation in the first half of 2022. In particular, the plans include holding a meeting of the Council of Presidents of Ukraine and Azerbaijan.”I am convinced that the agreements we have reached begin an even more effective, substantive and mutually beneficial stage of strategic partnership of our states,” Zelensky summed up.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will visit Ukraine next week, CBC TV channel reports, citing a press statement.
Joly’s office said the trip was meant to reaffirm Canada’s unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It is noted that meetings are planned between the Canadian Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna.
It is also expected that Joly will visit the Canadian military in Ukraine.
As it is known, 200 Canadian servicemen are in Ukraine as part of the UNIFIER military training mission, they are based in Yavoriv (Lviv region)
The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine is in contact with international partners on countering cyberattacks and strengthening the cybersecurity system, measures are being taken to protect the websites of the Foreign Ministry and consulates abroad, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said.
On behalf of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian diplomatic service has begun additional contacts with international partners to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to counter cyberattacks and develop cyber defense systems.
“A team of specialists from the Foreign Ministry, in cooperation with other involved departments, has already resumed the operation of the website of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine: mfa.gov.ua,” Nikolenko wrote on his Facebook page.
He noted that as a result of the hacker attack, the content of the website was not damaged, no official information was leaked, and the internal IT systems of the Foreign Ministry are operating as normal.
“We are taking practical measures to strengthen the cyber defense of the Foreign Ministry and Ukrainian embassies and consulates abroad,” Nikolenko added.
