•Boryspil International Airport demolished its previous high-water mark for passenger flow by more than 1 million in 2016, Novoe Vremya reported, citing the Infrastructure Ministry. For the year, the airport served 8.62 million passengers, an increase of 18.5 percent from last year.

•The lowering of the maximum daily limit for cash payments to individuals from $55,570 to $18,520, which went into effect Jan. 4, will help bring the Ukrainian economy out of the shadows, according to preliminary calculations by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry, Interfax Ukraine reported. According to the ministry, the potential reduction in the shadow economy is estimated to initially be about 4 percentage points. In H1 2016, the shadow economy was estimated to be 38 percent of official GDP.

•Avian influenza cases have been confirmed in the Chernivtsi and Odesa regions, Interfax Ukraine reported. More than 1,000 chickens and geese in those two regions have died from the disease.

•Ag processor Viktor and K, whose products are trademarked under the Korolevsky Smak label, plans to open a soybean production plant in the fall that will create almost 1,000 jobs, Novoe Vremya reported, citing government newspaper Uryadovy Courier. No information was given about the plant's location.

DCH Group owner Oleksandr Yaroslavsky announced that the Kharkiv Tractor Plant has resumed operations, thanks in large part to the intervention of President Petro Poroshenko, multiple sources reported. Yaroslavksy said in September that he is willing to invest $300 million to $500 million to develop the plant.

•An expected sharp fall in temperatures in Ukraine could damage the country’s winter grain crops because of a lack of snow cover on the fields, analyst UkrAgroConsult said. Meteorologists forecast a cold snap starting Jan. 6 and predict that air temperatures will fall on average to -13 to -17 Celsius, perhaps even to -20 Celsius.

•LOT Polish Airlines plans to add four flights this summer between Odesa and Warsaw, bringing the number from seven to eleven flights per week, Ukrinform reported. Starting July 19, the additional flights will run Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Also, Hungarian low-fare airline Wizz Air will roll out new service from Kyiv to Copenhagen and Nuremberg in August as well as add flights on six existing routes.

•Industrial prices in Ukraine in 2016 increased by 35.7 percent, compared with 25.4 percent in 2015 and 31.7 percent in 2014, the State Statistics Service said, as reported by Interfax Ukraine. According to the data, in December the increase in industrial prices accelerated to 3.2 percent from 2.2 percent in November, mainly due to the higher cost of goods the coal and metal ore mining industries.

•In the past year, Ukraine’s international reserves increased by $2.2 billion, or 17 percent, according to the National Bank of Ukraine, multiple news agencies reported.

•Over the first 11 months of 2016, the Mykolaiv region produced 17 percent of Ukraine's wind and solar electricity, EcoTown calculated, as reported by Ukrinform. In particular, the region produced 16.5 billion kilowatt-hour of electricity, which is 12.4 percent more than it produced in the same period in 2015. Mykolaiv region facilities produced 11 percent of Ukraine's overall electricity in the January-November period.

•Consumer prices increased 12.4 percent last year, as predicted by the National Bank and the government, multiple sources reported based on data from the State Statistics Service. The figure marks a major decline in Ukraine's inflation.

For comments and news tips, please email UBJ AM editor David Edwards at david.edwards@theubj.com.