•The government expects foreign direct investment in Ukraine to grow by $700 million in 2017 to $4.5 billion, Interfax Ukraine cited Deputy Economic Development Minister Maxim Nefyodov as saying. He said Ukraine expects FDI inflow to reach $8 billion in 2020.

•Officials expect Canada to ratify its free trade area agreement with Ukraine in March, while the Rada could ratify the agreement in February, Interfax Ukraine reported. The FTA deal was signed in July. Meanwhile, a fourth round of FTA agreement talks with Israel is happening now.

•Agricultural giant Kernel is thinking about buying an oilseed crushing plant in Ukraine with an annual capacity of about 1 million tons of sunflower seeds and expanding its land bank by between 200,000 and 250,000 hectares, according to Interfax Ukraine. Also, a handful of investment funds overseen by Polish fund manager TFI PZU nearly doubled their stake in Kernel to 10.1 percent of shares. Kernel plans to hold a roadshow for investors in Europe and the U.S.

•Ukraine seeks to crack the top 30 in the World Bank's Doing Business ranking by 2020, a highly ambitious target, Ukrinform reported. In the current rankings, Ukraine came in at No. 80, and Deputy Economic Development Minister Maxim Nefyodov said this week that the country is targeting the No. 50 spot for next year.

•Ukrainian construction firms increased output 13 percent from 2015 to 2016, according to the State Statistics Service. Residential construction grew 13 percent, and commercial construction rose more than 17 percent.

•The State Property Fund will accept proposals until Feb. 24 for resuming work at the Odesa portside chemical plant, Interfax Ukraine reported, citing the fund's website. The government has been seeking alternatives since its latest attempt to privatize the plant failed last year. An offer made by Ukrainian businessman Oleksandr Yaroslavky's DCH Group had not received a response as Friday.

•The European Investment Bank provided $3 billion worth of assistance to Ukraine in 2016, Ukrinform reported. All told, a three-year EU-Ukraine aid package will total $11 billion.

•Finland and Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the energy sector. Also, Ukraine is counting on Finland to stick to a principled stance on construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a joint oil pipeline project of Russia's Gazprom and Western companies that would bypass Ukraine as a transit point for natural gas shipment to Europe.

•The monopoly watchdog fined Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport more than $460,000 for restricting competition and charging unreasonable amounts for the use of airport infrastructure, according to Interfax Ukraine.