Business confidence has returned to pre-pandemic levels of October 2019, reports the central bank. Now, the trend line seems headed to the high levels of the start of the Zelenskiy Presidency. Agriculture and trade were the locomotives of a 4 point increase in the Business Expectations Index maintained by the National Bank of Ukraine.

Remittances by Ukraine’s labor migrants is forecast to reach $13.3 billion this year – 11% higher than the $12 billion recorded in 2019 and 2020. Labor is expected to remain above metals this year as Ukraine’s second largest export, after food. The rise in labor remittances is “due to the recovery of the economies of countries of destination of migrant workers and simplification of border crossing conditions by accelerating vaccination,”