Kyiv Boryspil International Airport takes first place in 2019 ACI Europe ranking. The airport’s record 22.1% passenger traffic growth allowed it to lead the rating of major airports with 10-25 million passengers annually, Boryspil wrote on its Facebook page. Boryspil’s record came amid an overall decline in passenger growth in Europe, according to the ACI report. The main Ukrainian airport beat Tirana (13.3%), Antalya (12.8%), Minsk (12.5%), Yerevan (12.3%), Moscow-Vnukovo (11.7%), Pristina (9.6%), Skopje and Sarajevo (9.3%) and Belgrade (9.2%) by a wide margin in terms of passenger growth.
Turkey’s LC Waikiki clothing stores in Ukraine earned $3.7 million in revenue. As the Turkish fashion retailer’s revenue grows, the company plans to open ten new stores in 2020, expanding the Ukrainian network to 45 stores across 18 cities. By 2023, the company wants to have 60 stores here.
UkrOboronProm wins case against Russian firm in Ukraine’s Supreme Court. Russian aircraft builder Avia-Fed-Servis took the Ukrainian state defense monopoly to court over an order it placed in 2014 for $2.3 million in military parts, UkrOboronProm deputy head Mustafa Nayyem said on Facebook. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the company received neither the parts nor its money back and filed the case.
The Cabinet has appointed tax police colonel Serhiy Solodchenko as acting head of the State Fiscal Service, it announced in a decree. After Ukraine made the tax and customs services separate offices in 2018, the State Fiscal Service only controls the tax police. However, Zelensky has signed a decree to reunify the tax and customs services under the umbrella of the State Fiscal Service.
Ukreximbank gets $110 million from Rinat Akhmetov after winning a court case against the oligarch. The state-owned bank has partly won the case against the richest Ukrainian’s firm ESU, which is accused of failing to pay off its bond debt.
President Zelensky pushes investments during a meeting with business associations. The president said he was ready to “struggle for each of you, for each kopeck,” and reiterated plans to create an “investment nanny” to protect investors and to free those who privatize state entities worth at least $10 million from corporate income taxes for five years. The administration is working to clean up Ukraine, “and you can help us by opening new offices and projects,” he said.
The growth of gross domestic product slows down. In October–December, GDP growth fell to 1.5% compared to the third quarter, when growth was 4.1%, according to the State Statistics Service. On average in 2019, GDP grew by 3.4%, reaching $150 million. In 2018, GDP grew by 3.3% and was $130 million.
