Ukraine fulfills all conditions for obtaining further financial aid from the EU. As soon as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides its final assessment and approve further cooperation with Ukraine, the European Union will be ready to allocate its second 500-million-euro tranche “without delay,” EU commissioner Oliver Varhelyi has said.
Ukraine will soon launch free trade with Britain. The economy ministry and the United Kingdom will sign an agreement on political cooperation, free trade and partnership between the countries “in the near future,” Economy Minister Ihor Petrashko has said. Britain invested over $2 billion in Ukraine in 2019, thus becoming one of the top three major investors here.
Authorities have charged a trio with raiding a foreign investor. Ukrainian prosecutors have sent a three-person indictment to the court for causing $2.5 million losses to a foreign investor, the Prosecutor General’s Office has stated. These people are part of “an organized group who unlawfully seized the material assets of a non-resident company,” the statement reads. They may face up to 12 years in prison.
IKEA starts sales in Ukraine, opens delivery points. The Swedish furniture giant officially launched sales from its Ukrainian website ikea.ua on May 14. IKEA also launched two distribution points: in Kyiv shopping center Auchan Rive Gauche and Metro Cash & Carry. The retailer offers locals “3,600 functional home goods… with attractive design and prices,” IKEA press service stated.
Epicenter has received a 5.3-million-euro loan from an Austrian bank to challenge Rozetka. The Ukrainian construction materials retailer has received the five-year loan in Raiffeisen Bank International to improve its e-commerce and thus ramp up competition with the country’s biggest online retailer Rozetka. In particular, the company plans to open a fulfillment center, a logistics warehouse where online orders are received and processed.
EBA: Some may work remotely until autumn. Although business is preparing to gradually go out of lockdown, employers will likely let some of their staff work from home even after the quarantine, according to Anna Derevyanko, executive director of the European Business Association. “Many companies have adapted to the remote mode of operation, therefore, due to the fact that there are still risks, they will be in such lockdown mode for a long time,” Derevyanko said. Even until autumn, she added.
The Kyiv city budget has lost $56 million due to the coronavirus pandemic, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. “Well, today it is difficult for everyone. We have lived in completely different realities for two months. Some have lost their jobs, some gone on leave without pay, some begun to earn much less. The city is also losing money,” he said. During the quarantine, the city “practically does not receive” taxes and fees from small- and medium-sized businesses, the mayor said.
4G works in more than half of the settlements in Ukraine. The high-speed mobile internet – provided in Ukraine mostly by three carriers Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine and lifecell – operates in 15,478 Ukrainian settlements as of May 2020, the digital transformation ministry reported. “This is more than half of the total number. But it is mainly large and medium-sized cities and towns, where lives 82% of the population,” it stated. The ministry forecasts 88% of Ukrainians will have access to 4G in early 2021 and 95% by July 2022.
