The State Customs Service has dismissed half of its office directors. Almost all of the senior staff dismissed were heads in charge of regional offices. The Finance Ministry stated that a panel of the State Customs Service of Ukraine decided on Friday, May 15, to terminate the duties of regional heads for Zakarpatska, Azovska, Podilska, Poliska, Pivnichna Slobozhanska and the Bukovynska customs offices. The head for energy was also dismissed. Moreover, “A warning about subsequent dismissal was handed to the head of Odesa customs office,” reads part of a Finance Ministry statement cited by Interfax-Ukraine on May 18.
Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko was quoted as saying: “A few weeks ago, at the meeting of the panel where all of you were present, I did not only speak about the need for changes in the customs system. I announced my expectations of the reform and set specific tasks for you. Today’s meeting of the panel is no longer about plans and tasks, but about real results, which are absent so far. Therefore, according to the results of this meeting of the panel, some 50% of the heads of customs offices will be dismissed.”
Most retailers in Ukraine will not expand their businesses in 2020, while 37% intend to close some outlets, a new survey has found. About 45% of Ukrainian and international retail businesses of various segments surveyed by Colliers International (Ukraine) said they will suspend business expansion entirely through 2020 while some 37% of retailers plan to reduce their current number of outlets.
Colliers International stated in its findings: “Only 15% of respondents said they plan to continue expanding their business. These are mainly representatives of the beauty & pharmacy segment, household appliances and electronics.”
Nearly two thirds of retailers in Ukraine are experiencing supply chain problems and some have been completely unable to restock. “Some 63% of the retailers surveyed said that there are currently problems… In particular, this concerns fashion, goods for home, household appliance segments. Some retailers operate on the basis of existing stocks left after lockdown. Some retailers have stopped deliveries until lockdown ends.”
Kyiv will reopen its gyms, large stores and other markets as well as some public transport when Ukraine begins the second stage of lifting quarantine restrictions, which is currently planned for May 22. The capital’s metro system and its large shopping malls may not reopen until mid-summer although city authorities suggested the metro could be up-and-running as soon as May 25.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on May 18: “In compliance with regulations and safety conditions, industrial markets, large stores with an area of up to 1,000 square meters, gyms and fitness centers, except for swimming pools, will start working. We also plan to resume the operation of above-ground public transport in the usual mode.” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal had previously announced that the country may enter stage two of easing quarantine restrictions on May 22. He previously said that subways in three Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, may not operate until mid-summer.
Shopping malls can only be reopened only after the restoration of metro service, the mayor said. “Large shopping centers need to be opened after the restoration of the metro. You need to understand that people get to work on public transport, in particular to large shopping centers,” Klitschko said in his briefing.
Ukraine grain exports show a yearly increase of at least 6% according to the latest figures from the first few months of this year. Since the beginning of the country’s agricultural market year for 2019/2020 (MY, July-June) and as of May 18, 2020, Ukraine has exported 52.73 million tonnes of grain and legumes. That is about 6% more than the 50 million tonnes that was exported in entirety of the 2018/2019 MY.
Ukrainian farmers have managed to sow 91% of the country’s farms, despite the coronavirus pandemic. As of May 14 they had planted grain, leguminous and industrial crops on an area of 14.1 million hectares, which is 91% of the projected 15.5 million hectares for this year.
Remittances to Ukraine increased to $3 billion in the first quarter of this year, while payments from Ukraine reached almost $154 million, the National Bank of Ukraine has reported. Remittances from labor migrants sending money back to Ukraine amounted to $2.9 billion in January-March 2020, which is 7% higher than the same period in 2019, the NBU said in a statement on Facebook.
The National Bank said the most popular “corridors” of transfers have not changed. The most transfers to Ukraine came from the United States, Israel, Italy, Russia and Poland, and from the country most often the money was sent to Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the United States and Turkey.
Biopharma has started conducting tests to search for possible donors for plasma rich in COVID-19 antibodies. The biopharmaceutical company is using EIA (enzyme immunoassay) tests to check for the availability of COVID-19 antibody assay in plasma donations. EIA testing will identify those who have the disease in a latent form or have recovered from it. “Biopharma purchased 12,000 EIA tests manufactured by Roche and on May 18 we will begin testing donors for antibodies on our hardware base,” Kostiantyn Yefymenko, the co-owner of the company, said on his Facebook page. Biopharma has begun collecting plasma from donors who have recovered from COVID-19 and is one of a number of Ukrainian pharmaceutical firms that can test and develop possible vaccines or treatments.
Pro-Russian forces in the Donbas have reportedly been closing coal mines because of falling coal prices. Leaders of the Russian-controlled areas have said they are “reorganizing” the local coal industry as they go about closing some mines. This was reported by the special project of Radio Liberty “Donbas Realities”. At the end of April, dozens of miners from the Nikanor-Novaya mine, located in part of the Luhansk region not controlled by Ukraine, refused to come to the surface. The miners pointed out the main reason for their strike was many months of unpaid salaries and that a group of Russia-backed militants intended to close the mine.
