Fighting Plagiarism

"
KYIV, April 29 /UKRINFORM/. Law enforcement bodies in Mykolayiv region caught a plagiarist who managed to gain on... the Constitution.

The enterprise young man issued allegedly own work "Scientific-Practical Comments to the Constitution of Ukraine" of 1,000 copies and succeeded in selling it at UAH 150,000.

The book was in demand.

However, a team of authors of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, who issued in 2003 a book "Constitution of Ukraine: Scientific-Practical Comments," saw in the work by 20-year old author something, which was very familiar to them.

The scientific-legal expert examination proved identity of the texts of two works.

A criminal case was instituted, the violator of the copyright will face a fine or, at the worst, imprisonment for the term from two to five years."

Dead but Voting

"A Regions lawmaker, Mykola Lisin, 1964, crashed his Lamborghini at 270 km/h killing himself late Apr. 17 night.

He was reported by the police to be driving under the influence of alcohol. His woman companion escaped death miraculously, being taken to hospital with multiple injuries.However, on Apr. 21, Lisin was registered as having voted in the Ukrainian parliament.

"

UEFA's Tax Exemption

"KYIV, April 21 /UKRINFORM/. The Verkhovna Rada has passed a government bill to exempt UEFA from profit tax and VAT based on its activity in Ukraine."

This is a typical requirement of UEFA/FIFA when they 'allow' a country to host a championship.

Who Benefits from this?

From BG Capital

"The Ukrainian government has introduced a new resolution that requires imports of fresh, chilled, and frozen poultry as well as other meat products and by-products to be licensed through the Agriculture Ministry.

Dmytro Ushenko: Poultry imports accounted for 14% of total domestic poultry consumption in 2010 (2009: 19%) and create top-down pressure on domestic prices as imports are some 34% cheaper than domestically produced poultry. The licensing, if maintained into the MT, should gradually deter imports through higher customs transaction costs, potentially easing MHP’s (MHPC LI) task of crowding out importers from the domestic market once the company introduces new capacities (in 2013)."

Kyiv Post and Press Freedom

The strike at Kyiv Post is interesting - can the owner of a newspaper ask the editor not to publish an article and fire him if he doesn't honor the request? And would a smart businessman, who has a diverse set of businesses, not know that at some point the newspaper would publish things that could harm other part of his business?

In fact, given that many magazines and newspapers are part of big financial groups one can only wonder why not more editors get fired.

Economic Literacy Needed

"KYIV, April 18 /UKRINFORM/. A survey conducted by Research & Branding Group on March 20-31 has shown that 57% of respondents are afraid of a new economic crisis due to an accident at the Fukushima-1 Nuclear Power Plant in Japan."

The Real Cost of Euro 2012 - Ex Ante versus Post

"Initially, the planned volumes of financing were as follows: allocations from the national budget would be UAH 12.7 bn, from local budgets – UAH 4.7 bn and extra-budgetary sources (i.e. private investments) – UAH 101.2 bn. Later, the entire Targeted Program of Preparations and cost estimates were repeatedly revised.

In the newest version of financing of the country’s preparations for Euro 2012, the government’s proposal is much more impressive – UAH 68 bn in allocations from the national budget and UAH 7.2 bn from local budgets. Moreover, the planned financing from “other sources” was reduced to UAH 72.7 bn. However, while the real expenditures of the state for the period 2008-2010 are known and amount to UAH 18.3 bn (including local budgets), it is virtually impossible to calculate how much private investors actually contributed. In total, the Ukrainian government announced its plans of spending UAH 147.8 bn from all sources over the period 2008-2012."

The Incomes of Ukrainian Ministers

"Among the members of the Cabinet of Ministers, Vice Premier and Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov received the highest income, which amounted to Hr 164.5 million."

The President's Income Declaration

From Ukrinform:

"KYIV, April 11 /UKRINFORM/. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has submitted his income declaration.

The document, which was posted on the official website of the head of state, indicates that the president's total income in 2010 amounted to UAH 920,268 (UAH 7.96 / USD 1).

Dividends, interest, and royalties totaled UAH 544,588, while his salary was UAH 375,680.

Yanukovych spent UAH 112,030 on property maintenance.

The head of state owns a 1.77-hectare land plot, a 619.6-square-meter house, a 239.4-square-meter apartment, and two 20- and 19.9-square-meter garages. According to the declaration, Yanukovych owns no cars.

The president owns shares worth UAH 2,772 and a bank deposit of UAH 1,063,892.

The president's wife, Lyudmila Yanukovych, earned UAH 18,443 last year.

She owns a land plot of 0.7 hectares and a 303.8-square-meter apartment. In addition, she also has a bank deposit of UAH 184,160."

Agriculture in Chernobyl Affected Areas

Ukrinform reports:"KYIV, April 7 /UKRINFORM/. Renaissance Capital and a group of investors announced plans to invest money in agriculture of Ivankiv district, Kyiv region.

The local lands have not been cultivated for 20 years because of their proximity to the Chornobyl zone. The project also involves one of the major agro-industrial holdings - Sintal Agriculture."

Love and Marriage

"KYIV, March 26 /UKRINFORM/. According to a study conducted by Research & Branding Group, the majority of Ukrainians (66.9%) referred to love as the primary motivation for marriage.

39.2% of respondents believe the reason for marriage is the desire to have children, 32.5% the commonality of views and interests, 16.9% tradition, 89% the partner's charm, 8.4% pregnancy, 6.7% loneliness, 5.6% legalization of sexual relations, 4.9% improvement of financial situation, 4.7% self-assertion, and 2.3% ambition.

At the same time, 48.1% of the respondents in general have a positive attitude to the practice of a marriage contract when entering into a formal marriage, 28.4% negative attitude, and 9.6% do not know what it is.

The most optimal number of children today, according to 59.7% of Ukrainians, is two, 19% believe that one child is best, and 10.7% three children.

The public opinion research on issues of marriage and family was held from 1 to 9 March."

Another View on Belgium

This time in the Kyiv Post (taken from Reuters)

Belgium as Explained in Ukraine

The newspaper Day (Dehn) has an interesting attempt by a Belgian to explain Belgium's approach to linguistic diversity. While the article is fairly neutral, the title seems to suggests somebody is unhappy with the conclusion of the article:

"The achilles’ heel of Belgium is therefore the absence of a national constituency for the federal elections and it can be expected that the federal state will be replaced tomorrow by a confederal state and The Day after tomorrow by two states."

The Wage of Ukrainian Models

"Prepared to be impressed, if not entertained, thousands of socialites and politicians lined up the catwalk to witness new collections. Hundreds of Ukrainian models put these colorful shows to life for… $50 a show."

Harvard Boys and Girls To Be

An interesting initiative

"The Administration of the President of Ukraine has signed an agreement to conduct a pilot training program for the leaders of public service with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University."

but the last sentence is rather mysterious

"The training of Ukrainian officials in the U.S. will be funded by sponsors."

MPs salaries and benefits

Data on Ukrainian MPs salary and benefits can be found here.

" Lawmakers’ monthly salary stands at UAH 6,000." That is about 800 dollars a month - no wonder that for such salaries one does not get stellar MPs and that MPs try to find alternative sources to complement their income...

World’s top economists are to convene in Chernivtsi

reads the title of this article.

Unprofitable for Whom?

"KYIV, March 16 /UKRINFORM/. European airlines will not get free access to the Ukrainian market until the EU does not cancel visas for Ukrainians, Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov has said, UKRINFORM reported, with reference to the Kyiv Post newspaper.

In his opinion, it is unprofitable to let foreign air carriers in Ukraine, because Ukrainian airlines will be left without work.

The signing of the Treaty on Open Skies improves competition and thus lowers prices on flights, as it allows airlines not to wait for permits, but negotiate directly with airports, he said."

Recovering from Catastrophes

The Economist has an interesting article on the economic effect of catastrophes - no long lasting effects on economic growth are found.

Paskhaver's Compromise

An interesting discussion by Oleksandr Paskhaver

"I am trying to create a new initiative. I want to appeal to the new authority and explain that I understand their interests, and, therefore, I would like to propose a compromise. We will not see any new foreign investors of any signifi cance unless we eliminate the rampant and total corruption in our country. On the other hand, I understand that you won’t lift a fi nger against your own interests. The compromise I suggest is to leave corruption at the very top level as is, but to eliminate corruption on the middle and lower levels of government. With all of the energy in your new authority, let’s work together to eliminate corruption on the lower levels."I am trying to create a new initiative. I want to appeal to the new authority and explain that I understand their interests, and, therefore, I would like to propose a compromise. We will not see any new foreign investors of any signifi cance unless we eliminate the rampant and total corruption in our country. On the other hand, I understand that you won’t lift a fi nger against your own interests. The compromise I suggest is to leave corruption at the very top level as is, but to eliminate corruption on the middle and lower levels of government. With all of the energy in your new authority, let’s work together to eliminate corruption on the lower levels."

EURO 2012

The Kyiv Post has an article on the ever increasing costs for Ukraine of organizing EURO 2012.

Why am I not surprised?

Gender Relations Statistics

An interesting survey on how Ukrainians see life of men and women

"Some 55.7% of participants in a survey conducted by the Gorshenin Institute believe that men in Ukraine live an easier life than women."

and

"Speaking about their female colleagues, 37.8% of men said that they worked on a par with them. Almost a quarter of men surveyed (24.6%) said that women worked worse than them, while 4.5% believe that they work better than them. A third of men (33.1%) were undecided."

British Firm, Ukrainian Employees

"Cupid operates a number of different online sites and has 13 million customer profiles registered with it throughout the world.

It employs about 15 people in Edinburgh at its head office - it also has 200 workers based in the Ukraine."

Organ Sales

An interesting article on sales of organs in Ukraine can be found in this week's Kyiv Post - one shortcoming, it focuses on those who were tricked/forced in selling their organs and those who where cheated when selling their organs - a more balanced article would also have talked about those who actually got the organs and about those who sold their organs and where happy about it.

Stray Animals

"According to a Gorshenin Institute study, 78.5% of residents of megacities believe that stray animals are a problem. Many (66.7%) are aware that stray animals are a danger to the public."

Most Dangerous Jobs in Ukraine

"The jobs of drivers and miners are the most dangerous jobs in Ukraine, according to conclusions made in a report by the State Service of Ukraine on Mining Supervision and Industrial Safety regarding the level of injuries and deaths reported at enterprises in 2010, UKRINFORM reported, referring to the Delo newspaper.

In general, 644 people died in industrial accidents last year, in particular, 120 drivers, 114 miners, as well as engineers, technicians and builders."

Doing Business in Ukraine

The Kyiv Post has another great interview today:

"In September, the State Customs Administration accused the plant of being a coal smuggler, as it claimed that ArcelorMittal failed to pay Hr 200 million ($25 million) worth of customs duties on its imported coal, arresting nearly 67,000 tons of coal in question at ports. This case was dropped last December, only to give way to headaches.

Recently, tax authorities accused ArcelorMittal’s plant in Ukraine of more than $50 million in tax violations. But Russian-native Rinat Starkov, appointed ArcelorMittal’s generaldDirector in Ukraine, says his biggest headache is the state tax administration’s inability to refund value added tax on time and in full.

Government debts to the plant as of Jan. 1, he said, totaled Hr 2.3 billion, the biggest amount owed to any business in Ukraine. Starkov is also not happy that ArcelorMittal has had to make more than Hr 1 billion in advance tax payments to help Ukraine cover a budget shortfall. In addition, dealing with inspections from various controlling bodies, which the company faces on a daily basis, has become a daily routine."

And a rather embarrassing comparison with Russia:

"Things like that are impossible in Russia, and in the West, where I worked for the last four years. It’s really difficult for [ArcelorMittal’s management in London] to understand what is really going on here. Russia had similar problems, but that was 10 years ago."

Abusing Export Quota

why export quota are not a good idea:


"KP: In recent grain export quota allocations, one company, Khlib Investbud, received a disproportionally large proportion, while international grain traders like Cargill and Louis Dreyfus were not given any. How could you explain this?

VK: The lawmaker Volodymyr Matveyev [from the Communist Party] made a request to the general prosecutor during a parliamentary session to investigate the transparency of quota distribution. But he received no reply.


KP: Who are the owners of Khlib Investbud?

VK: At a press conference, Agricul­ture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said the state owns 61 percent while 39 percent belongs to private owners.

When asked who those private owners are, Prysyazhnyuk said he couldn’t remember. So, the minister can’t remember, and I don’t know them"

Maradonna Ukraine's coach

The latest candidate to coach Ukraine's national team seems to be Diego Maradonna. Clearly, this job must be well paid...

The Days After the Revolution

With all the revolutions in the news, the Washington Post notices that Ukraine provides a good illustration that a revolution is just a first step

Surrogate Parents II

Wasnt Elton John unable to adopt a Ukrainian orphan? This story of a Belgian gay couple seems to suggest some are able to do it, but how they did it seems rather typical for Ukraine.

Money and Football

If a major oligarch puts his full weight behind a football club, this is what you get:

"The International Federation of Football History and Statistics has named FC Shakhtar Donetsk the world's most improved team of the 1st decade of the 21st century."

If at some point this oligarch will spend as much on a Ukrainian educational institution as he spent on Shakthar, then we would very fast see a similar increase of that Ukrainian educational institution in the international educational rankings.

Ukrainian Tops FBI Wanted List

"Marat Mihaylich, a native of Ukraine, has topped the list of criminals wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)."

Press Freedom

Ukraine ranks 131st in terms of press freedom, a substantial deterioration since last year, according to the index of the Reporters without Borders. It is kind of hard to believe though that the press would be more free in Zimbabwe...

Women and Business

"The survey also revealed some other trends. Representatives of regulatory authorities inspect business women oftener than men, and women have to get 6% more permits for business activity."

Toppling Leaders

This site has betting odds reflecting the chance a leader of a country gets thrown out - Yanukovich clearly can continue to sleep soundly.

Religion in Ukraine

is growing according to these latest statistics

Making TV in Russia

A very interesting account of a Westerner trying to make TV films in Russia can be found here

Folk Medicine

"The survey conducted by GfK Ukraine shows that in Ukraine, more than 50% of citizens prefer to be treated with folk remedies."

Price Controls and Queues

A few days ago I posted a blog with examples of how price controls seemed to lead to further output declines and ultimately could lead to rationing. On Feb 9, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Azarov said the following in a speech:

"Dear Colleagues.
I want special attention paid to the members of the Government those issues that determine quality of life in our country.
First of all, it is a situation on the food market. I have already said that the dire food world environment, the further the more pressure on the domestic market. The only solution here - increasing domestic production of all that is necessary for food security and price stability. At the same time we have to constantly deal with purely speculative implications on the domestic market.

February 3, 2011 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the producers of sugar and sunflower oil, which provide stabilization of prices in these market segments of food products. As a result, we have some positive changes.

Yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the producers of grains of buckwheat, which provides fixed wholesale price for this type of grains.
Generally, this will give the opportunity to compile consumer price of buckwheat in sufficient levels. In fact, most retailers have buckwheat has declined in value.

However, this week we are faced with the absurd situation where supermarkets in the capital began to limit the number of products that can be purchased by one buyer. "


Hopefully, they'll become aware at some point that these two things can be related - and that rather than trying to control the price administratively, it makes more sense to try to stimulate competition.

Find The Mistake

"The 2010 harvest, while lower than that in three previous years, is the third largest in Ukrainian history."

Win-A-Ukrainian-Wife

"The “win a wife” competition was launched on Monday and will close on February 28th during which time five finalists will be shortlisted to win the prize to fly out to the Ukraine and choose a wife from an agency which specialises in matchmaking Kiwi men with Ukraine women."

Hair

New hairstyles from Kyiv

Another Step Back

“From the perspective of rule of law, the democratic and European principles of an independent judiciary, and the independence of advocates, it is unacceptable and astonishing that the government is putting such pressure on lawyers and not allowing the office of one of the largest international law firms operating in Ukraine to function during the working day, including disabling our local servers and computer equipment, and detaining 50 Magisters’ lawyers and staff on premises without cause for such an extended period of time,” Mac added.

Working More

The Ukrainian MPs like their work so much they have decided to guarantee themselves an extra year in the Parliament

Influential Economists

The Economist asked some economists about whom they thought were the important economists of the last years - their answers can be found here

Pet Overpopulation

Given the problem with stray dogs in Kyiv, the Kyiv authorities might want to read this paper on Pet Overpopulation and how to avoid it.

Color in Ukraine

"Family Portrait in Black and White" has brought the story of a woman raising 16 black orphans in Ukraine, an overwhelmingly white and often racist society, to the Sundance film festival."

Citations of Members of the Academy of Sciences

A very revealing table showing the almost complete lack of 'international' citations of the Ukrainian economists who are members of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences - scroll down to the end of the file and smile...

The same is true for the corresponding members

If you want to know the Ukrainian economists whose work matters at the international level, you can read my paper or look at this ranking

When to Invest in Ukraine

Ukraine's president promotes Ukraine in Davos in the following way:

"In order to 'Switch On Ukraine' it is enough to look at it with your own eyes when chestnuts start blooming in Kiev and Ukrainian women start undressing. To see this beauty is amazing," the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper quoted Yanukovych as saying."

Consequences of Price Regulation

Price Regulation can keep prices down but can also bring quantities down, as illustrated by two reactions of producers this week:

From BGCapital Daily Market Watch

"Kernel halts domestic sunflower oil sales

Kernel (KER PW) has temporarily halted domestic sales of bottled sunflower oil, APK-Inform reported, citing local players. The move comes in response to the Anti-Monopoly Committee’s recently announced investigations into reports of price collusion by the three largest oil producers in Ukraine (see news from January 24). Dmytro Ushenko: As we expected (see our Initiating Coverage report from December 16, 2010) Kernel looks to have chosen to redirect some volumes of sunflower oil from Ukraine to export markets in response to growing pressure from the regulator. We estimate that Kernel’s domestic bottled oil sales will fall 7% y/y and will account for 12% of the company’s total sunflower oil sales in 2011."


And

"Number of large producers stops selling buckwheat

According to the company representatives, the main reason for the emergency of this situation is the measures applied by state bodies for stabilization of the price situation on the market."


Start the queues for sunflower oil and buckwheat!

Ukraine the Dangerous Outlier

The Economist has an interesting graph on traffic deaths and traffic cameras - it illustrates well how dangerous Ukrainian roads are

An Example To Follow

"Russia is ready to unilaterally recognize higher education diplomas and advanced academic degrees issued by leading universities around the world, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said."

Surrogate Parents

surprising that the below is possible in Ukraine:

"Because no laws exist to govern the practice in Ireland, many couples face a legal quagmire after their babies are born. For those who have chosen cheaper options (such as travelling to the Ukraine, where surrogacy costs between $20,000 to $30,000), the complications can be especially daunting. "There's no legislation on the ground here. Everybody is losing out on this," Marion Campbell says, adding, "When it comes to family life and children we're very behind the times. They [the government] don't want to touch it."

The legal uncertainty has serious implications for parents and for children. When a surrogate baby is born in the Ukraine, the names on the birth certificate are those of the intended parents rather than the surrogate mother. This means the baby will not receive a Ukrainian passport, but Ireland may not grant a passport either. The result is what Campbell describes as "a stateless baby" in Ukraine -- it might or might not be possible to return to Ireland with emergency travel documents, but the child will still be without proper identification and nationality, and for the parents, the prospect of costly court cases looms."

How Ukraine Makes the International Headlines

Ukraine does sometimes gets the attention of the international press. But not always for the right reasons. An example of the last two days.

Ukraine on CNN: topless protest

Ukraine in the Belgian press I: Crocodile eats telephone

Ukraine in the Belgian press II: Ukrainian Lady shakes baby on YouTube. This last news item also shows the confusion between Russia and Ukraine - the "Ukrainian" lady is quoted as saying that wildly shaking babies is normal in Russia. But when looking at the Youtube video they are talking about a Russian lady...

Illegal Financial Flows

Ukraine ranks 17th!

The report and data (!) can be found here

An International Ranking of Fairness

There is a whole literature on fairness in economics, but as far as I know, there is no international ranking that ranks countries in terms of fairness. The UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking however presents one way to rank countries on this criterion.

I aggregated the results of the last 10 years (2000-2010, but 2001 is missing - the original data can be found here) - the overall ranking, based on the weighted average score, for those 50 'countries' that are available every year can be found here


Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England and Finland make the top 5. So the Nordic countries are the most "fair" countries, at least based on behavior of football teams.

The correlation between the 2000 and the 2010 score is about 0.7, which is reasonably high as one would expect as fairness should not vary too much from one year to another.

According to the UEFA "The Respect fair play assessments are made by the official UEFA delegates, based on criteria such as positive play, respect of the opponent, respect of the referee, behaviour of the crowd and the team officials, as well as cautions and dismissals."

It would be nice to make an analysis based on the components of this index - unfortunately, those disaggregated data are not available online and the media center of the UEFA informed me that disaggregated data are confidential since they are part of the official match reports which are not made public - not really transparent, indeed. Maybe an idea for Wikileaks?

Ukraine and Fair Play

Ukraine ranks 30th in terms of fair play (out of 48) according to UEFA's latest ranking.

The Endogeneity of a Firm's Wage Policy

The IER has an interesting paper on how Ukrainian firms have changed their wage policy over the crisis, which you can find here

Political Asylum

Ukraine is now a country from which you can flee for political reasons:

"Czech prison service spokesman Robert Kacer said a state prosecutor ordered Bohdan Danylyshyn's release, a day after he was granted political asylum."

Ukraine versus Belarus

"On our return to Minsk, we find the bars and cafés full of well-dressed young people. Aggression and public displays of drunkenness are refreshingly absent from the streets. Outside the state opera (cheapest tickets US$2), we meet an Irish restaurant owner who has emigrated to Belarus. "This is the place," he says. "The economy is booming and there's a real vibe. My son and I went to Ukraine recently and everyone was saying to us: 'Can we have the Belarus president in charge here for a year?'"

It's not difficult to see why. Unlike Ukraine and Russia, Belarus's economy is not dominated by billionaire oligarchs. There is no underclass: according to UN figures, Belarus has one of the lowest levels of social inequality in the world. Lukashenko wins elections not through fear, but because he has delivered social protection and rising standards of living. Growth now stands at 7 per cent."

A somewhat too optimistic view of Lukashenko if you ask me, especially given latest developments. Note that the Ukrainians in the article wanted Lukashenko 'for a year'. That is exactly where the problem is with Lukashenko.

Wholesale Markets

The Ukrainian government thinks it can promote the sales of Ukrainian agricultural products by organizing wholesale markets. One wonders whether organizing such markets couldn't be a profitable activity. As far as I can understand, in Belgium such auction sites were established in the 1940s and 50s by the farmers themselves as cooperatives. On the website of one such Belgian wholesale market it is explained that the goal of these sites is to allow farmers to have more control on prices.

The official reasoning in Ukraine, as set out in this article reads as follows:

"According to the official, the program for construction of a network of wholesale markets that the government started last year will be a rather tangible stabilizing factor that will allow structuring the vegetables market and regulating it in the future.

Rozgon forecasts that with the help of those markets it will be possible to considerably cut the volume of imported agricultural products to Ukraine. He explained that for today, Ukrainian supermarkets are engaged in the sale of imported products, since as distinct from Ukrainian products, they are supplied in clearly defined volumes, in clearly defined terms and with clearly defined quality.

According to the official, in Ukraine activities on such terms is impossible, however formation of the network of wholesale markets will help ensuring accumulation, storage and promotion of products in compliance with the European, as well as world norms and requirements."

According to this article, the government plans to invest one billion in these markets.

Ukraine Needs 'Harvard Boys'

"We need professionals, the so-called Harvard boys, those young Ukrainians who received a good education.
These well-educated Ukrainians with practical experience have a different vision of the world and Ukraine and Ukraine’s place in the world should come to power. I think, after some time the president will make a presentation of his new team.”"

The thinking is not bad, though one wonder whether 'Harvard Girls' would be acceptable too...

Beer Habits

"According to the survey, for the majority of Ukrainians the average one-time norm of beer consumption is 0.5 and 0.33 liter (50.2% and 16.3% respectively) that corresponds to the norms calculated according to the international standards. The majority of Ukrainians knows what is the safe norm for beer consumption, however one third of respondents pointed out 1-2 liters of beer as the average norm."


An interesting article about the evolution of the beer sector in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, can be found here

New Year Inflation

New Year has an inflationary effect:

"In the final days before the New Year, there was a traditional hike in prices for exotic fruits - pineapples, tangerines, and oranges - a 10% increase compared to the current price."