Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

ALL TERRITORY OF UKRAINE WILL BE DIGITALIZED NEXT YEAR

The State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre has announced a tender to carry out aerial mapping of the territory of Ukraine, as well as to create orthophotomaps and a digital terrain model (DTM), Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has said. “Ukraine will have high-quality and accurate 3D models of forests, industrial structures, as well as classifications of buildings, plants, power lines and much more. Investors will be able to easily design facilities and invest in infrastructure,” the government’s press service reported, citing Honcharuk as saying. According to the report, the total cost of the work is UAH 276 million. The deadline is until December 2020.
In addition, in preparation for land reform, the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre is actively filling out a database. So, in three months, six new information layers appeared on the public cadastral map. Now information on 20.9 million land plots (total area of 43.8 million hectares) has been entered.
Among other things, the authority began using satellite-based land monitoring data in test mode, and in just a week completed 755 public control measures over the use and protection of land.
It is reported that according to the results, 301 violations of land legislation with a volume of damage of more than UAH 1 million were revealed, of which UAH 691,720 were voluntarily repaid.

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UKRAINE GETS RECORD GRAIN HARVEST THIS YEAR – MINISTER

Ukraine as of November 28 had threshed 74.3 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops from an area of 15 million hectares, exceeding the result of the grain harvest for the whole of 2018, when the gross harvest amounted to 70.1 million tonnes. “Some 74.3 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops were harvested from an area of 15 million hectares, or 98% of the forecast, with the average yield being 4.93 tonnes/ha (4.7 tonnes/ha in 2018),” Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Tymofiy Mylovanov said on his Facebook page.
As reported, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture predicts grain harvest in 2019 at the level of 74 million tonnes, including 28.1 million tonnes of wheat and 35 million tonnes of corn.

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VOLUME OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN UKRAINE IS $1.82 BLN IN 2019

The volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ukraine in the form of share capital as of October 1, 2019 amounted to $34.73 billion, which is $1.82 billion, or 5.5% more than at the beginning of the year, the State Statistics Service has said. According to its data, investment income for the first half of the year amounted to $1.67 billion, withdrawal some $980,000, but most of the increase was provided by the exchange rate difference due to the strengthening of the hryvnia at $1.14 billion.
As reported, in the first quarter of 2019, FDI in Ukraine increased by $45.5 million. Their revenues amounted to $590 million, withdrawal some $500 million, and the contribution of the exchange rate difference amounted to $60 million.
In the first half of the year, FDI growth amounted to $840 million: investment inflow to $1.26 billion, withdrawal to $730 million with a foreign exchange contribution of $520 million.
According to the State Statistics Service, the largest increase in FDI in January-September 2019 was recorded from Cyprus with $761.1 million (up to $10.3 billion), the Netherlands with $438.3 million (up to $7.56 billion), the Russian Federation with $220.1 million (up to $820 million), and Switzerland some $133.3 million (up to $1.68 billion).
At the same time, there was a sharp decrease in investments from Hungary by $197.8 million (to $370 million) and the UK by $92.7 million (to $2.04 billion).
By industry, the largest increase in foreign investments was recorded in financial and insurance activities with $828.6 million, mining and processing industries with $266.4 million and $235.4 million, real estate operations with $225.8 million, professional, scientific and technical operations with $161.8 million, as well as in wholesale and retail trade with $146.9 million.
At the same time, in the area of administrative and support services such investments decreased by $248 million.

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UKRAINE AND LITHUANIA SIGN DECLARATION ON STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Ukraine and Lithuania signed several documents, including a declaration on strategic partnership development for 2020-2024, following a session of the Council of Presidents of Ukraine and Lithuania chaired by Volodymyr Zelensky and Gitanas Nauseda. “This is a joint declaration on the development of strategic partnership between Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania, which contains the priorities of the bilateral dialogue for 2020-2024. Therefore, we can confidently say that the partnership between Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania will be even stronger,” Zelensky said at a meeting with the media on November 27.
The declaration will become a kind of road map for the development of Ukrainian-Lithuanian relations at the level of strategic partnership. Its provisions will form the basis of possible further steps by the countries in the context of cooperation on a range of issues of bilateral, regional and international agenda, reads a statement on the presidential website.
The joint statement also envisages a series of joint actions by Ukraine and Lithuania in international and regional security, European and Euro-Atlantic integration, economy, social policy, trade and investment development, scientific cooperation, cooperation in cultural and humanitarian fields.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva and Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the Republic of Lithuania Asta Skaisgiryte signed the Protocol of the Twelfth Session of the Council of Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania, which reflects the main agreements reached during this event.
The Protocol also strongly condemns Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, including the temporary illegal occupation of Crimea and parts of Ukraine’s sovereign territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The document also notes the active cooperation of the two countries and the strong support for Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations aimed to gain full membership in the EU and NATO.
Deputy Prime Minister, Digital Transformation Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov and Energy Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Zygimantas Vaiciunas signed a Declaration of Intent for Mutual Recognition of Electronic Identification and Trust Services for Electronic Transactions between the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Ministry of Economy and Innovation of Lithuania. Among other things, the document contains an agreement on the parties’ intention to unite efforts to remove existing barriers to the cross-border use of trust services and cross-border e-contracts, e-bills and other similar solutions.
In addition, Defense Minister of Ukraine Andriy Zahorodniuk and Minister of National Defense of Lithuania Raimundas Karoblis signed a Declaration of Intent for Cooperation in Cyber Security between the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ministry of National Defense of Lithuania. The document provides for a series of measures aimed at developing cooperation in order to ensure appropriate response in the event of large-scale national or international cyber incidents. The parties also expressed their intention to establish common points of single contact for the exchange of information on cyber threats and attacks, and to develop a joint training plan.

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REGULATOR APPROVES FEED-IN TARIFF FOR SOLAR POWER PLANTS IN UKRAINE

The National Commission for Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Regulation (NCER) has approved a feed-in tariff of 15.03 eurocents per kWh for the solar power plant of Sunwin 2 LLC with a capacity of 10.3 MW and Sunwin 13 with a capacity of 20 MW (Poltava region).
The commission made the decision on Tuesday.
The tariff is in effect until January 1, 2030.
The commission also approved the tariff for Kalynivka-TERRA LLC’s solar power plant with a capacity of 11 MW (Mykolaiv region). The owner is former deputy head of Investor (Kharkiv) Hennadiy Hayevy.
The plant of Alveor-Energy LLC with a capacity of 10.8 MW (Mykolaiv region) obtained the tariff. It belongs to SPM-Invest, the ultimate beneficiary of which is Alla Kuznetsova.
The commission set the tariff for two phases of the plant of Chervona Hora Eco LLC with a capacity of 12.6 MW and 11.5 MW (Zakarpattia region). The plant belongs to South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction Co. (GS E &C).
In addition, the regulator set the tariff for the plant of Consulting Solar LLC with a capacity 11.3 MW (Kirovohrad region).
According to the unified public register, Sunwin 2, Sunwin 13 and Consulting Solar belong to President of VR Capital Group asset management company (the United States) Richard Deitz.
Through Cyprus-based Wiltan Enterprises Limited he also owns Sunwin 12 and Sunwin 14, which in 2019 launched solar power plants with a capacity of 15.6 MW and 13 MW in Kirovohrad region. In addition, he owns Sunwin 5, which is implementing a project of the Morozovka solar power plant with a capacity of 70 MW in Kirovohrad region.
VR Capital together with ICU also built a 64 MW solar power plant near Kamianetz-Podilsky (Khmelnytsky region). They also complete the 35 MW solar power plant project in Kherson region.

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CAPITAL INVESTMENT IN UKRAINE IN JAN-SEPT GROWS BY 12.4%

Capital investment in Ukraine in January-September 2019 grew by 12.4%, while in the first half of 2019 – by 12.3%, the State Statistics Service has reported.
According to the State Statistics Service, in January-September 2019, UAH 379 billion of capital investment was disbursed (excluding the temporarily occupied Crimea, Sevastopol and the JFO area).
In the regional context, the largest increase in capital investment January-September 2019 compared to the same period in 2018 was recorded in Volyn (by 71.1%), Kherson (by 44.2%), Mykolaiv (by 34.7%), Poltava (by 29.3%), Kyiv (by 27.1%), and Dnipropetrovsk ( in 21.8%) regions.
According to statistics, capital investments for the reporting period decreased in Zakarpattia (by 15.3%), Vinnytsia (by 9.8%), Odesa and Chernihiv (by 8.6%), and Rivne (4.4%) regions.
In the industrial context, the largest increase in capital investment in the first nine months of this year was recorded in the field of research and development – by 79%, temporary accommodation and catering – by 67.5%, water transport – by 50.6%, advertising – by 44, 2%, professional scientific and technical activities – by 43.8%.
At the same time, in the field of postal and courier activities, the drop in capital investments amounted to 81.1%, information and telecommunications – 23.4%, agriculture, forestry and fisheries – 11.3%.
The main source of financing capital investment remains the own funds of enterprises and organizations, due to which 73.4% of the total volume of all investments has been used.
A significant share of capital investments was made in machinery, equipment and vehicles – 46.3%, buildings and structures – 45.6% of all investments.

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