National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 01/03/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba during his working visit to France held a meeting of the business council with representatives of large and medium-sized French businesses, the press service of the ministry reports.
“In subsequent years, huge opportunities open up in Ukraine, in particular in the areas of construction, infrastructure and energy. The president of Ukraine and the government are committed to a large-scale renewal of Ukrainian infrastructure in order to create qualitatively new opportunities for the development of our country and international trade,” Kuleba said and invited French business to take part in two of the most attractive investment areas, namely the Big Construction program of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and large privatization.
Kuleba also clarified that this primarily concerns the construction and concession of roads and bridges, concession and privatization of ports, modernization of border infrastructure, projects for the electrification of public transport, the development of water supply systems, waste treatment, etc.
“This cooperation is not only beneficial, but has an important political significance for strengthening ties between Ukraine and France,” the minister stressed.
In addition, the parties paid special attention to the energy sector. Kuleba emphasized the potential of green hydrogen production in Ukraine and the synchronization of our state with the course of the European Green Deal, which opens up new opportunities in the field of renewable energy.
The minister also drew attention to the achievements of Ukraine in deregulation and simplification of doing business, the adoption and successful implementation of the new law on concessions, the harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with the norms of the European Union. In addition, Kuleba recalled that the Council of Exporters and Investors constantly operates under the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine, which helps investors find new opportunities.
It is noted that the top managers of a number of companies that are already working or are interested in implementing business projects in Ukraine took part in the council: Airbus, Air Liquide, Alstom, Crédit Agricole, Egis, RTE International, TOTAL Eren, Tryba Energy and others. The co-organizer is MEDEF International (Movement of Enterprises of France), which helps French companies establish international cooperation.
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Ukraine’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B’ with a stable outlook, the agency said on its website.
“Ukraine’s ‘B’ IDRs reflect its track record of multilateral support and a credible macroeconomic policy framework that has underpinned a relatively high degree of resilience to the coronavirus shock. Ukraine’s human development indicators compare favorably with the peer group, it has a net external creditor position of close to 13% of GDP, and general government debt is somewhat lower than the ‘B’ median. Set against these factors are weak governance indicators, a high degree of legislative and judicial risk to policy implementation, and low external liquidity relative to a large sovereign external debt service requirement,” the report says.
“The stable outlook reflects expectations for gradual fiscal consolidation and continuation of macroeconomic policies that helped preserve broad stability in external finances during last year’s shock. The ability to issue eurobonds and available domestic liquidity has provided some limited space to manage a delay over the next six months in completing the first review of the IMF Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). The coronavirus shock temporarily reversed improvements made in recent years in terms of a declining debt burden and normalization of growth prospects after the 2014-2015 geopolitical and economic crises. At the same time, the political position of the administration has weakened somewhat and recent Constitutional Court policy reversals further underline the risks to SBA compliance, which constrain the rating,” according to the document.
Upon arrival in Ukraine on March 2, President of the European Council Charles Michel, together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, will visit the east of the country and meet with representatives of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO).
“At 13:00 Kyiv time on March 2, he is to begin a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky; at 13:10 Kyiv time, he is to meet with representatives of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO),” the European Council said in an announcement on its website.
It is expected that on this day a meeting with representatives of the OSCE SMM and organizations that provide humanitarian assistance to Donbas may also take place. At the end of the day, Presidents Michel and Zelensky will hold a joint press conference.
The second day of the visit will take place in Kyiv on March 3 and will begin with a meeting between the European Council President and representatives of anti-corruption institutions, followed by a visit to the vaccination center. The visit will end with a meeting with President Zelensky and a joint press conference with him.
As previously reported, the President of the European Council began his visit to the countries of the Eastern Partnership on Sunday. In particular, he visited Moldova on February 28, and on March 1 he is to visit Georgia.
President’s bills offer tax amnesty with a flat tax of 5% for one-off declaration of currency values placed in bank accounts in Ukraine and other assets in Ukraine, as well as 9% for currency in bank accounts and other assets which are abroad, as evidenced in the materials posted by Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev on his Telegram channel. At the same time, when purchasing government bonds from January 1, 2021 through June 20, 2022, before submitting the declaration, it is proposed to apply a tax of 2.5%.
According to the submitted materials, the amnesty may cover assets in Ukraine or abroad, acquired at the expense of income that has not been declared for any tax period as of January 1, 2021. And such a mechanism can be used by Ukrainian individuals, as well as nonresidents who were residents at the time of acquisition of assets or income.
“Assets to be declared: any assets, including movable/immovable property, securities, corporate rights, for which the subject of the declaration is the owner or from which he has the right to receive income,” the materials said.
The package of bills also provides for the deadline for filing a declaration: from July 1, 2021 to July 1, 2022.
It is proposed to establish that the following assets do not require the submission of a special declaration: real estate (an apartment up to 120 sq. m, a house up to 240 sq. m, nonresidential premises up to 60 sq. m, a land plot meeting free privatization standards);
– one vehicle that is in the register (except for those intended for the carriage of 10 people and more or with an engine capacity of more than 3,000 cubic cm, or the average market value of which is above 375minimum wages, while aircraft, helicopters, yachts, boats are subject to declaration); other assets with a total value of up to UAH 400,000.
Internal and external debt of Ukraine in 2009-2020.
SSC of Ukraine
