Business Update: April 15 – Land market reform opposition, forest fire fines increased

Ending quarantine measures in Ukraine is not feasible until after a steady reduction in cases of COVID-19, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said. “Given today’s anti-record on new COVID-19 cases, I believe that it is not advisable to talk about quitting quarantine. We are considering the conditions under which quarantine can be stopped in Ukraine, and I can confidently say: this is possible only when we see a steady decrease in the incidence of COVID-19.”

Delivery of Ukrainian-made lung ventilators to hospitals is expected in “the coming weeks,” a government meeting chaired by President Volodymyr Zelensky has reported, according to Ukrainian language media. In the next few weeks, as some countries appear to be bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control, the delivery of Ukrainian-made lung ventilation devices to struggling domestic hospitals is expected, a daily meeting on countering the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ukraine, chaired by Zelensky, reported. Experts have repeatedly warned that Ukrainian hospitals are not properly equipped to handle the coronavirus pandemic.

The Indian government has decided to give Ukraine a batch of 30,000 pills of hydroxychloroquine, which is considered by some medical experts as a promising medication for treating coronavirus (COVID-19), the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine said. The medication that’s usually used for malaria is being tested in multiple clinical trials with mixed results in a healthcare setting. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Indian government for its assistance. Even despite a ban on exports of hydroxychloroquine abroad our Indian friends have made this important to Ukraine decision,” the ministry’s press service quoted Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as saying on Wednesday.

Naftogaz and its enterprises transferred $800 million to the national budget over three months, the state-owned gas and oil company has said. NJSC Naftogaz Ukraine and its member companies paid Hr 24.1 billion in taxes and dividends to the national budget in January-March 2020. Naftogaz and its subsidiary companies paid about $4.4 billion in taxes and dividends to the national budget in 2018. The state-owned conglomerate unites the largest oil and gas producing enterprises of the country. The group is a monopolist in storing natural gas in underground storage facilities and transporting oil through pipelines throughout the country.

Zelensky must veto the bill on land market reform, opposition lawmaker Yulia Tymoshenko says. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should veto the bill, Batkivshchyna party’s parliamentary leader Yulia Tymoshenko said, as reported by Interfax. “Of he as president of Ukraine signs into law the bill to sell our agricultural land instead of vetoing it, he will be breaking the law,” Tymoshenko told journalists outside the presidential administration building in Kyiv on Wednesday.

DTEK predicts coal mining will drop to 30% in 2020, the company CEO has said. Billionaire oligarch Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK energy company assumes that coal mining by its Ukrainian companies will be 30% of 2019’s total, CEO Maksym Tymchenko said. “I am not ready to say what volume of output we will have this year. It may fall to 30% compared to last year,” he said during an online briefing on Wednesday. Tymchenko said that the company had planned to produce around 24 million tons of coal in 2020 (7% more than in 2019), but a significant decrease in electricity consumption in the country has forced DTEK to adjust those plans, he said.

Zelensky signed into law a bill that increases the fines for burning plants and grass by up to 18 times, Interfax reports. In particular, the fine for air contamination from burning grass or garbage will be increased from Hr 1,700-3,400 to Hr 30,600-50,000; for devastation or causing damage to plants (starting forest fires) – from Hr 5,100-8,500 to Hr 91,800-153,000. Forest fires in Ukraine grabbed global attention in recent weeks when they raged through the contaminated Chornobyl exclusion zone, sparking fears of radiation level spikes and polluted air. 

Antonov’s An-225 Mriya superplane is back in business, delivering medical supplies to Ukraine’s allies. Here are fun and interesting facts about the world’s largest and heaviest plane, as reported by Liga.net. The Mriya has set nearly 500 aviation records, of which 240 are world records. Antonov has a second Mriya, 60% built. Finishing a second Mriya would be very expensive. A few years ago it was valued at $120-$130 million. The start of mass production is estimated at about $4 billion, according to Antonov.  

State-owned banks are now allowed to sell distressed assets below their value, but the buyer cannot be a person associated with the debtor. On April 15, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution that approved the criteria and conditions for determining by state banks measures for managing troubled assets (NPLs).

Business Lockdown: Dream Town CEO Yemets advises business to ‘stay calm’. The boss of Dream Town, a 160,000-square-meter shopping mall that hosts over 700 shops, said: “The quarantine has affected us harshly — 99% of the shopping mall is affected, as only the supermarket still works.”

For one hotel owner, the government ‘needs to step up’ for businesses. Vasily Grogol owns and runs the Bursa Hotel in central Kyiv, as well as a co-working space. The hotel includes one restaurant and two bars, as well as a consultant agency. The whole complex employs 150 people. “We are badly affected. Everything is frozen, restaurants are not working except for delivery, but this is nothing compared to the revenues of the actual restaurant. The occupancy of the hotel fell to 5%.”