Page 55 - UKRRptSept18

The average monthly nominal wage increased to UAH9,141 a month ($349) from UAH8,725 in May, which is 4.8% m/m growth in real terms. The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service has noted a significant increase in passenger traffic to the European Union countries that was associated with the beginning of the tourist season and vacations. In addition, from July to September every year, European countries see a spike in demand by student going to study abroad. As reported, 500,000 trips of Ukrainians to the European Union were recorded in mid-May 2018 alone. About a third (35%) of Ukrainians travelling to the EU travel by air. Poland is also a popular destination for crossing the border by road. The overwhelming majority of Ukrainians get into the EU countries through the border with this country.
9.1.9 Utilities sector news
Ukraine's energy market regulator, the NERC, is going to cancelled a range of its resolutions, the so-called Rotterdam Plus formula, for pricing steam coal as an input for power production at thermal power plants from July 1, 2019, due to the transfer to new electricity market rules, Interfax news agency reported on August 28.
The Rotterdam Plus model, approved by the power sector regulator in March 2016, assumes that electricity produced by power plants covers coal costs based on the historical API2 Index (or CIF price in the ports of Amsterdam and Rotterdam) plus delivery costs from Rotterdam.
The formula is beneficial for Ukraine's leading coal and power holding DTEK, controlled by oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. The new methodology has led to surging profits at all Ukrainian power generation companies since the second half of 2016.
"We are ready for future dialogues and we are inviting everyone to further open discussions," Interfax quoted the regulator's head Oksana Kryvenko as saying.
Earlier, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said that the agency "the unlawfulness" of the new methodology, which is applied to all the coal consumed by thermal power plants, due to the fact that only 3% of that coal is imported (while the rest is produced domestically).
9.1.11 Other sector news
Ukraine has established seven new industrial parks this year, bringing the total to 46, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry reports. The first industrial park was opened in 2000 in Bila Tserkva, about 80 km south of Kyiv. Some parks have attracted factories. Other have remain ‘paper parks.’
55 UKRAINE Country Report September 2018 www.intellinews.com