The Business Week for the week of July 27 – August 2, 2020

The Business Week for the week of July 27 – August 2, 2020

AGRIBUSINESS

EBRD to provide a $27 million loan to Nibulon

The EBRD will provide a $27 million loan to one of the Ukrainian largest grain traders Nibulon under the EBRD Solidarity Package. The financing is aimed at ensuring sustainable trading volumes despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, reads the EBRD press release. The loan will be directed to the working capital needs for agricultural commodities procurement, processing, storage, transportation and following the sale for export, says EBRD Senior Advisor for External Affairs Anton Usov. Read more


Ukraine has already harvested over 20 million tonnes of grain


Ukrainian farmers have already harvested 20,6 million tonnes of grains and legumes from an area of 5.7 million hectares: 
🌾 12,8 million tonnes of wheat
🌱 6,4 million tonnes of barley
🌾 1.2 million tonnes of rapeseed
🌱 385,000 tonnes of peas 
The leaders among the Ukrainian regions are 📍Dnipropetrovsk, 📍Zaporizhzhia, 📍 Kherson, 📍Mykolaiv, 📍 Donetsk. Read more.


INNOVATION TECHNOLOGIES

🚀 A great example of how innovations help to combat the COVID-19 pandemic!

We are proud to see how Lviv ІТ Cluster took the leadership in the fight against the Covid19 pandemic in Ukraine, namely in Lviv and Lviv region, due to its initiative “United for Health”. Among the tech solutions developed within the United for Health initiative are:
📍 Interactive map to detect COVID-19 outbursts in Lviv and the region developed jointly with N-iX
🌡“Temperaturka” chatbot for monitoring the general health conditions of the residents developed together with BotsCrew
📱 Viber bot for medical staff developed jointly with Chatbots.Studio
🌀 Safe Menu and EdPro Thermal Scanner solutions have been implemented as the result of the Hack the New World online hackathon.
The project raised over 💸 UAH 6 million with 41 companies of Lviv IT Cluster supporting it. Read more about the challenges and the results of the United for Health initiative. 


Looking Beyond the Discovered Tech Horizons

Why should you choose Ukraine for outsourcing? Read the article prepared in collaboration with Daxx “Looking Beyond the Discovered Tech Horizons: Outsourcing to Ukraine vs Poland”.
🌀 Number of Programmers and Tech Specialists
🌀 Comparison of Prevailing Technologies Used by Developers
🌀 Ease of Doing Business


Ukraine launched immigration quotas for foreign IT specialists

According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, foreign IT specialists can be employed by the Ukrainian IT companies. The initiative allows Ukrainian IT companies to employ an additional 5,000 highly skilled IT specialists on a permanent basis. The employees hired within the quota will receive a residence permit for 10 years. Those foreigners, who are already working in Ukraine and are willing to apply for the residence permit can get the information here – https://thedigital.gov.ua/en/quotas.


RANKINGS

Kyiv is among the world’s best freelance cities

According to the Carphone Warehouse, Kyiv is listed among the world’s best cities for freelance, occupying 25th place with a total score of 45.6. Employment rate, average monthly salary, number of co-working spaces, internet speed and commute satisfaction were the criteria for evaluating the best cities to work remotely.  Besides, the researchers took a close look at the general cost of living, monthly rent for a one-bedroom in the city center and quality of healthcare services. Read More.


MARITIME

Ukrainian ports have increased its cargo handling by 10% during the first half of 2020


Sea trade ports of Ukraine handled over 79 million tonnes of cargo, a 10% increase compared to the previous year. Pivdennyi port remains among the leaders with more than 31 million tonnes. Pivdennyi together with Mykolaiv, Odesa, Chornomorsk and Mariupol account for 92% of the total cargo transshipment by Ukrainian ports. Grain and ore represent the largest part of the cargo. Olvia and Berdiansk have been constantly increasing its volumes of handled cargo by 60% and 63% respectively. Read more


TOURISM

No visa needed for Chinese tourists traveling to Ukraine

 
Ukraine keeps moving towards visa liberalization for foreign tourists. The President of Ukraine has signed the decree on the establishment of the visa-free regime with the People’s Republic of China. Now Chinese tourists can travel visa-free to Ukraine starting this August until January 2021. The allowed period of staying in Ukraine should not extend 30 days during the 6 months period. This step fosters the bilateral cooperation between the countries and will revitalize collaboration in the tourism sector. 


FINANCE&BANKING

Ukraine sells over UAH 10,6 billion worth of government bonds


The Ministry of Finance issued 3-month and 1-year hryvnia denominated bonds with an average weighted rate of 7.1% and 9.2% respectively. Ukraine also sold 130,5 million dollar-denominated bonds with a 1 year maturity period with a 3.5% yield. Overall, the Ministry attracted over UAH 10,6 billion to the state budget.

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