Week in numbers

UAH 24.1 to the dollar is an average forex rate set by the Finance Ministry in a draft 2016 budget; 60% of the citizens from the eight EU member states believe that the armed conflict in Ukraine has been instigated by Russia; Ukraine’s public debt amounts to $70.671 billion.

Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius expects a 2% growth of the Ukrainian economy.

Three MPs - Oleksandr Shevchenko, Yevgeny Rybchinskiy and Taras Batenko - quit the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko. In addition, MP Mykhailo Lanio left the deputy group Volya Narodu [Will of the People].

Four out of five seats of fire in the Odessa House of Trade Unions on May 2, 2014, started from the inside of the building, according to a report by the International Advisory Group of the Council of Europe.

The Ukrainian Finance Ministry announces that the average forex rate in 2016 will be set at UAH 24.1 per U.S. dollar as a macroeconomic indicator, according to Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko.

25% of children (more than 500,000 people) of the total number of young Ukrainians, requiring vaccination, have been vaccinated against polio, according to the Health Ministry of Ukraine.

Ukrainian national football team is now 28th in the FIFA rankings, dropping four places, according to the Association’s website.

41 people died and another 180 people were injured in a fire in one of the nightclubs in Bucharest on October 31, foreign media reported. The tragedy was cause by fire safety violations as the fireworks were engaged inside the building. The three owners of the club have been detained for 30 days. The accidents has caused a wave of mass protests across Romania against government corruption. Nearly 20,000 people took to the streets. The country’s prime minister chose to resign.

60% of citizens from eight EU member states believe that the armed conflict in Ukraine has been instigated by Russia, according to a survey by the World Policy Institute. This statement is most supported by the Poles (75%), least – by the French (46%) and British (49%).

Ukraine holds 70th position among 142 countries in a global prosperity rating, released by the British-based Legatum Institute, Ukrainian media report. Ukraine dropped seven positions in 2015 alone.

74% of Russians would re-elect president incumbent, Vladimir Putin, the Russian media reported citing data from a survey by FOM (Public Opinion Foundation). The runner-up would be Vladimir Zhirinovsky, with a 4% support.

85 out of 123 banks operating in Ukraine have seen profit at UAH 3.872 billion since the beginning of 2015, as reported by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). 45 banks, including seven insolvent financial institutions, saw a loss of UAH 72.739 billion.

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (PGO) summoned for questioning as witnesses 112 people's deputies of the Verkhovna Rada’s eighth convocation, said MP from the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko (BPP) Serhiy Leshchenko. According to the PGO, only six deputies have been interrogated as witnesses since April 2015.

269 ​​MPs voted in favor of amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On the status of war veterans, guarantees of their social protection". Now, the provisions of the law regarding the payment of a lump-sum to volunteers and the families of those who have died in the armed conflict also apply to persons who have been recognized as disabled before the law enters into force, as well as to the families of those who died before the law takes effect.

There are 489 police units and 217 police departments, all fully functioning as part of Main Directorates of Police in Ukraine’s regions and the city of Kyiv, according to the authority established by law, said the department of communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

5,000 people gathered in Berlin to protest against German policy on the admission of refugees, foreign media reported.

43,226 rounds of ammunition - artillery shells, rocket ammunition, grenades, mines, etc., have been discovered and seized by the State Service for Emergencies since the beginning of its operations in eastern Ukraine, according to the Service.

79,000 Russians remain in Egypt, mainly in the resorts of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh, foreign media reported with reference to the Federal Tourism Agency of Russia. Russia plans to evacuate its citizens, on dates corresponding to tickets already purchased.

UAH 150,000 will be allocated for each family of the victims of the sea accident off the shore of Zatoka, Odesa region, when the Ivolga boat capsized and sank in the Black Sea on October 17, according to Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

218,394 refugees arrived in Europe by sea in October, foreign media reported with reference to the UNHCR. Almost the same number of refugees arrived in Europe over the entire 2014. In this context, the European Commission does not expect to reduce the current rate of migration flows until 2017. According to forecasts, another three million refugees may arrive in the European Union before the end of 2016.

5 million people in eastern Ukraine are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, according to the foreign media quoting Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Nils Muiznieks.

Ex-Justice Minister Olena Lukash, who is suspected of misappropriation of budget funds and grand fraud, was bailed out for UAH 5.116 million by Vadym Novinsky, MP from the Opposition Bloc. However, Olena Lukash is still being held in the pre-trial detention center of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv.

UAH 131.33 million has been blocked by the State Service for Financial Monitoring and the Security Service of Ukraine since the beginning of 2015 in the framework of an operation aimed to prevent and counter financing of terrorism (separatism).

$70.671 billion is the total amount of Ukraine’s public and publicly guaranteed debt as of the end of September, 2015, according to the Finance Ministry.

Margarita Andreyeva

UNIAN in Google News