Page 66 - UKRRptJan22

Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, has started NINJA Ukraine, a program to help Ukrainian startups enter the Asian market. Operated in conjunction with Kyiv’s UNIT.City, the program is also designed to attract the support of Japanese venture capital. Separately, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko says the government has allotted $1.8 million to the Ukrainian Startup Fund to help early stage IT startups.
Starting in January, Ukraine will apply the 20% VAT tax to web-based services provided by foreign tech firms, reports The Kyiv Independent. According to the law, passed by the Rada last summer, foreign tech companies have to pay the value-added tax for digital services provided to local users. This would include: e-books, photos, magazines, games, online advertising and data storage. Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) say they will pass the tax on to customers by raising service prices.
9.1.8 Tourism sector news
9.1.9 Utilities sector news
Medical tourism in Ukraine to recover in 2022. From 2017 to 2019, the number of foreigners receiving treatment and diagnosis in Ukraine has doubled, reported Interfax. “Statistics speak for themselves: both trends and demand for medical services in Ukraine will only grow, despite even a temporary timeout due to pandemic”, said Bogdan Zadorizhny, surgeon-oncologist of Spizhenko Clinic.
Ukraine has enough coal and gas to get through the winter heating season, Prime Minister Shmyhal told Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting. Citing Energy Ministry data, he said this month Ukraine will receive a total of 2 million tonnes of domestic and imported coal, against projected consumption of 1.7 million tons. "As of mid-December, we have more than 15 billion cubic meters of gas in storage. That is enough to provide people with fuel, utilities and industrial consumers," he said. “Typical scare stories that we will run out of coal by winter, turned out to be another fake."
Guaranteed buyer estimates 2021 debt. The obligation of the Ukrenergo to Guaranteed Buyer according to the calculations for the electricity produced by RES in 2021 is approximately UAH 11.3 B ($415 M). According to the company's estimates, since January 1, 2021, a total of UAH 70 B has been paid for "green" electricity, of which UAH 46 B was paid directly for electricity in 2021, and the rest for electricity in 2020. 11.4 M MWh were purchased in the RES generation last year, more than half of which (57%) was produced from solar energy, 33% from wind farms, 8% from bioenergy plants, and 2% from hydropower.
Energy company DTEK was forced to import 300 megawatt-hours from Slovakia on the night of December 21 to make up for the emergency shutdown of a faulty coal power unit at its Burshtyn thermal power plant in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. DTEK generates 30% of Ukraine’s electricity and is owned by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov. DTEK’s power plants are among the top polluters in Europe. The company said the emergency was
66 UKRAINE Country Report January 2022 www.intellinews.com