Consumer confidence of Ukrainians in December 2018 improved compared with November by 2.4 points, to 62.2 on a 200-point scale, following the November trend after a significant decline in October 2018, GfK Ukraine has reported on the results of a monthly study, clarifying that from January 2019 it stopped this research project. This indicator is also 1.9 points higher compared to December 2017, the report says.
“In December, the optimism of consumers recovered after a slight recession in October-November. The consumer confidence of the citizens with average and higher than average income has improved the most. In December, these groups saw the significant increase of the index of expected changes in future income and propensity to consume. Instead, the pessimism has increased in the group of citizens with lower than average income,” GfK Ukraine analysts said.
The largest positive trend was shown by the index of propensity to consume, which rose by 3.7 points in December 2018, to 71.6, the study indicates.
Ukrainians were also optimistic about the expectations of changes in unemployment: the corresponding index rose by 3.5 points, to 134. The index of expected changes in personal financial standing grew by 3.2 points, to 61.8.
In addition, the inflation expectations index improved, dropping by 2.6 points, to 186.6, and the economic expectations index increased by 2.6 points, to 63.6.
Ukraine and Norway have signed a joint statement on nuclear security, “green” energy and energy efficiency, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has said.
“During the business forum, together with head of the Norwegian government Erna Solberg, we signed a joint statement launching important energy initiatives on energy efficiency, integration into the European energy market, cooperation in nuclear safety and “green” energy,” Groysman wrote on Twitter on Monday.
The Government of Ukraine and the Swiss Federal Council have signed a protocol amending the bilateral convention on the avoidance of double taxation.
“The signing of this protocol creates favorable conditions for investors in Ukraine and Switzerland, stimulates business initiative of entrepreneurs, regulates issues of international taxation of income between states and eliminates tax discrimination,” President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, who attended the signing ceremony in Davos, wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.
Poroshenko met with Swiss President Ueli Maurer and agreed to continue interaction between the competent authorities in the matter of returning assets illegally withdrawn from Ukraine by former officials, Ukraine’s presidential press-service reported.
During the meeting, Poroshenko invited his Swiss counterpart to visit Ukraine.
Ukrainian Finance Minister Oksana Markarova and Maurer signed the protocol.
According to a posting on the website of the Finance Ministry of Ukraine, the signing of the protocol is aimed at avoiding double taxation of individual and companies’ income earned on the territories of the two countries.
“This will be achieved both by dividing the right to tax certain types of income between countries depending on their place of origin, and by taking into account the amounts of taxes paid in one country in tax liabilities of a taxpayer in one country,” the Finance Ministry said.
According to the ministry, the signed protocol provides for an increase in the tax rates of interest and royalties from nil to 5%, improving the procedure for resolving tax disputes through arbitration, and expanding the parties’ ability to exchange tax information without mentioning the requirements of national tax interest or bank secrecy.
In addition, the document establishes rules of applying the right to receive benefits – they will not be provided regarding the type of income or property, if one of the main goals of any agreement or an agreement between economic entities was to directly or indirectly receive such a benefit.
“These rates and regulations suit the general practice of concluding such international treaties on the avoidance of double taxation and protocols thereto with other countries by Ukraine,” the Finance Ministry said.
After signing the protocol, the countries are to implement the internal procedures required for the ratification of the agreement, the ministry said.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held a meeting with newly elected President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro in Davos (Switzerland), where the World Economic Forum is taking place. During the meeting the two presidents pointed out the importance of resuming large-scale cooperation in all sectors of mutual interest.
“The parties discussed prospects of intensification of trade and economic cooperation, first of all in the military-technical, investment, energy, scientific-technical and other spheres. It was also agreed to hold a regular meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation in the near future,” the press service of the Ukrainian head of state reported on Thursday.
The parties confirmed interest in restarting a number of industrial, energy, infrastructure and other projects suspended by the previous administration of Brazil.
“The parties stand for the need to increase the level of coordination between the two countries in the framework of international organizations, first of all the United Nations. The President of Brazil supported the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” the press service said.
Poroshenko invited Bolsonaro to visit Ukraine.
First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv and Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Francis Gurry have reached an agreement on a joint project to develop the National Strategy for Intellectual Property in Ukraine. “I just met with Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization Francis Gurry. It is nice that his organization has highly and positively appreciated our work in reforming our intellectual property domain. We agreed on a joint project to develop the National Intellectual Property Strategy and continue to form an extensive network of innovation support centers in Ukraine,” Kubiv wrote on his Facebook page.
Also, he said, together with WIPO, Ukraine will continue to introduce alternative procedures for resolving disputes in the field of intellectual property.
DEVELOPING, HELP, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, NATIONAL STRATEGY, UKRAINE
Trade turnover between Ukraine and India in January-October 2018 amounted to $2.3 billion, of which $1.5 billion was the cost of sunflower oil, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv has said. “India ranks first in terms of exports of Ukrainian goods to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region and is the fifth largest buyer of Ukrainian products among countries in the world,” he wrote on Facebook.
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade said on Twitter the Ukrainian delegation headed by Kubiv on January 11-13 is on a working visit to India to participate in the 25th international summit “New India: Rising to Global Occasions.”
