☝️ It is proposed to strengthen business assistance

☝️ What will change in government procurement

☝️ In response to restrictions on Ukrainian freight carriers

☝️ Spanish furniture manufacturers resume production

☝️ Furniture premiere in almost forty years

 

Everything that happened last week in Ukraine and the world and that is relevant for the furniture maker, read in our digest:

 

1. The experts proposed an economic policy that could be used to support business, in particular, tax exemption and public financial assistance. This is stated in the new consensus forecast for 2020-2021, published by the Ministry of Economy.

Key expert suggestions are as follows:

– increase the budget deficit to at least 6% to generate sufficient fiscal stimulus;
– to exempt from payment or to defer the payment of taxes for the quarantine period to entities whose activities are prohibited during the quarantine period;
– to provide targeted financial assistance to employees who are forced to go on leave at their own expense or in the care of a child during quarantine, at the expense of the stabilization fund;
– introduce a set of financial measures to support small businesses and FOPs.

2. The new version of the Law on Public Procurement came into force.

From now on, the threshold for mandatory procurement through Prozorro will be reduced from UAH 200 to UAH 50,000. The Ministry of Economy noted that this will open up an additional market for UAH 30 billion for business.

Secondly, the responsibility for gross violations of the tender legislation will be increased. For example, if the customer unreasonably rejected the tender offer – and the State Audit Office will confirm it – he will be fined from 25 to 51 thousand hryvnias. At the same time for minor procedural violations the penalty for customers is reduced from UAH 11700 to UAH 1700.

Third, the successful tenderer will now be able to correct minor errors in the tender offer. The participant will have 24 hours to do this.

Fourth, the mechanism for appealing the bidding procedures in the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine will be improved now.

Another innovation: customers will be able to protect themselves from price dumping. Thanks to the “abnormally low price” mechanism, the electronic system will highlight the offers of the participants, which will be 30-40% lower than the nearest competitors. In this case, the customer may ask the tenderer to justify such price, and in case of no explanation – reject the offer.

3. The government has introduced mirroring measures to countries that impose restrictions on Ukrainian cargo carriers, said Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Vladislav Krykliy.

“Ukraine supports the free movement of goods between countries, we have not restricted the transportation of goods in any direction. The economy of both Ukrainian and other countries should work, however, after restrictions were imposed on Ukrainian carriers in some countries, the government was forced to adopt mirroring measures.

4. Companies across Spain, including furniture manufacturers, have announced that they are reopening their factories after production restrictions in the country came into force on March 14.

Spain, which is experiencing one of the most devastating Covid-19 outbreaks, has lifted restrictions that allow some industries to resume production to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic. The partial lockout will be in effect until April 26.

5. Danish furniture brand Brdr Krüger launched a chair designed by the late Danish architect Nanno Dietzel back in 1983. The Arkade Chair was one of several pieces of furniture that the architect, who died in 2005, created for Brdr Krüger. But only 37 years later, the Danish brand finally launched the chair into production.

The name Arcade Chair is a reference to an architectural element characterized by recurring arches. The chair consists of curved and round shapes, which can be made in different colors and materials.

Arkade models are characteristic features of Nanna Dietzel’s design: her love of soft shapes, the repetition of rounded shapes and arches that gave the name to the chair, the signature postmodern, elegant geometry. The combination of materials and techniques in the chair emphasizes the designer’s love of craftsmanship and color.