Page 56 - UKRRptJune18

January-April 2018 grew by 2.1%, year-over-year, to 4.982 billion units. Production of meat (live weight) in the first four months of 2018 fell by 1.3%, to 1.084 million tonnes. As reported, with reference to statistics, milk production in Ukraine in 2017 decreased by 0.5% compared to 2016, to 10.329 million tonnes, meat (in live weight) by 0.4%, to 3.259 million tonnes. Production of eggs in 2017 rose by 3.2%, to 15.578 billion units.
The World Bank predicts that land prices in Ukraine may triple to
US$3,000-3,500 per hectare from the current $1,000-1,500 in case the moratorium on farmland sale is lifted, UNIAN reports. According to Bloomberg, Ukrainian landowners have Europe's lowest land rent rates, while the quality of the Ukrainian soil is one of the world's best. The moratorium on farmland sale in Ukraine has been extended until 2019.
9.1.7 TMT sector news
Ukrainian leading telecoms company Ukrtelecom is going to connect within the next two-year remote Ukrainian settlements to the broadband Internet access service, which could cover 8,000 villages where 6mn residents are living, according to the company's director for mass market segment Denys Zakharenko. The total cost of the project is UAH6bn ($230mn), including UAH3.2bn (53.3%) of government investment. He said that all villages with schools (6,900) and villages located close to them with over 100 households will be included in the project. According to Ukrtelecom estimates, mass connection would ensure the coverage of 40% of the total number of rural residents in Ukraine with the broadband Internet access service, which would cut the gap between cities and small towns and villages by 75%, as the share of rural areas in Ukraine where the service is not provided would decline from 56% to 16%, from 8.3mn to 2.3mn people. Thanks to the implementation of the project, broadband Internet access saturation in Ukraine would grow by 4.4%, and GDP would grow by 0.6%, which in the prices of 2018 is around UAH20bn. Growth of the national budget's revenue could be UAH5.4bn, according to Interfax news agency.
9.1.8 Telecoms sector news
Kyivstar reports big increase in Internet roaming . The use of mobile Internet in roaming by Kyivstar's subscribers shot up by almost four times (by 293%) in 2017 compared with 2016, and the use of voice services rose by 70%, Interfax-Ukraine reports. In 2017, the number of roaming service users in the operator's network grew by 10%, and the number of subscribers who use the mobile Internet in roaming doubled compared with 2016. Poland, Romania, Turkey, Hungary, Germany, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Russia, Moldova and Belarus became the most popular countries among roaming users Last year, Kyivstar reduced the cost of mobile services in roaming in 34 countries.
9.1.9 Tourism sector news
Number of Ukrainian holidaymakers in Egypt expected to reach one million in 2018 . According to Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin, “The number of Ukrainian tourists in Egypt was about 800,000 in 2017; this year they will increase to 1mn tourists.” Klimkin was in Egypt last week, the first visit at this level since 2010. His Egyptian hosts, expressed gratitude to Ukraine for
56 UKRAINE Country Report June 2018 www.intellinews.com