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Banks must reveal total value of consumer loans. The value of consumer loans will now include the cost of insurance, tax and pension funds payments as well as the cost of notary and state registrar services. The change, which came into effect on Jan. 19, aims to give consumers the full picture of their expenses when taking out loans. The National Bank of Ukraine will also require banks to disclose the cost of their services on their sites and in ads, the Financial Club news site reports.
Ukraine falls in Bloomberg innovation rating. Ukraine has dropped three spots in the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index to take 56th place out of 60 countries analyzed. According to the index, the top three innovators were Germany, South Korea and Switzerland, respectively. The bottom three were all new to the list: Egypt, Kazakhstan and Macao in descending order.
Infamous Kyiv developer Maksym Mykytas removed from a plane trying to flee Ukraine. Mykytas, who is also a former lawmaker, was removed from a flight bound for London by National Anti-Corruption Bureau detectives on Jan. 20, according to Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service. Charged with fraud, he was on bail for an alleged $3.3-million land plot embezzlement scheme.
American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) criticizes proposed tax code amendments. The document contains both positive and negative changes for the business community, AmCham said in a statement. The business community praised the reduction of fines for late or non-filed tax invoice registration and the removal of a measure that canceled value-added tax (VAT) refunds for soybean and rapeseed exporters. However, several other provisions will put increased pressure on honest taxpayers, AmCham writes:
- Lack of a clear for a taxpayer algorithm of determining a reasonable economic cause (business purpose)
- Equaling tax rates for tobacco-containing products for heating to cigarettes
- Increase of penalties for late payment of the agreed financial obligation
- Equaling transactions to the actual payment of dividends with accrual and payment of advance contributions
State companies to contribute less to budget? Ukraine’s Economy Ministry wants to require state-owned companies to spend only 50% of profits on paying dividends into the state budget, according to a draft decree on its site. Currently, 90% of their profits must go into the budget.
UkrOboronProm to cut its debts in salary payments in half by the end of 2020, Deputy General Director Mustafa Nayyem said in an interview with Radio Liberty. He added that Director Aivaras Abromavicius wants to improve the social conditions of the state defense production giant’s workers. “When we took office, there were 43 companies (in UkrOboronProm) that had salary payment debts. Now there are 36,” Nayyem said.
Ukraine takes second in cheap internet ranking. Previously it held first place in the Worldwide Price Comparison by BDRC Continental and Cable.co.uk, which surveyed 206 countries between Nov. 28 to Jan. 8. In Ukraine, fixed-line broadband internet costs $6.64 per month on average. In the latest ranking, Syria took first place, largely due to the collapse of the war-torn country’s currency.
Unemployment goes up in Ukraine. The amount of unemployed Ukrainians has gone up 15% recently, according to the State Statistics Service. Currently, roughly 340,000 Ukrainians are jobless.
Which blue-collar workers earn the most? New research by online marketplace OLX says the biggest earners are in the transportation and logistics sector with an average of $615 dollars a month, the Ekonomichna Pravda news site reported. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the average blue-collar salary was $433 per month. After transport/logistic, the next largest earners worked in construction ($533), manufacturing and energy ($451), domestic services ($431), agriculture ($410), trading ($388), services ($369), bars and restaurants ($369) and security guard services ($328). Kyiv and Lviv Oblast topped the ranking with the highest salaries ($531 and $451, respectively).
Inside Business: A factory just outside the city of Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine produces 1,100 Electrolux, Zanussi and premium brand AEG washing machines every day — one washing machine every 23 seconds, writes Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, on Twitter. The machines are exported to the European Union. “This is what an extension of the European supply chain to Western Ukraine looks like,” adds economist Anders Aslund.
Ben Aris, editor of bne IntelliNews, says this is how a business boom in Ukraine will start. “As in all transition countries light manufacturing sets up factory (because of) low wages. As biz builds they go up the value chain,” he writes on Twitter. This investment will be a harbinger of Ukraine’s rapid catch-up growth in the future — “unless govt/corruption interfere,” he adds.
