• Multiple outlets reported on this year’s bumper grain crop, which government officials expect to be a record-breaker. Minister Taras Kutovy predicted that the 2016 grain yields will be 64 million tons, the largest harvest in the history of independent Ukraine.

• The Infrastructure Ministry is offering a nationwide contest for infrastructure project proposals, according to Interfax Ukraine. The head of the ministry, Vladimir Omelian, said regions, cities, towns and rural settlements can apply to look for investors in transportation and infrastructure projects, and the best projects will be chosen.

• Ratings agency Fitch continued its string of credit rating upgrades in Ukraine with elevations of credit ratings for Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ekonomicheskaya Pravda reported.

• Transit of gas through Ukraine by the Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom could cost the company an additional $4 billion a year, depending on the decision by a Stockholm arbitrator, several sources reported. Proceedings start today.

• Plans to establish a national health care service in Ukraine and the funding mechanism to create it received the blessing of a number of high-profile international organizations, Interfax Ukraine reported. Among the entities expressing support are UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the World Bank.

• Ukrinform reported that the government intends to form a working group to draft proposals for customs reform and finalize existing proposals. Prime Minister Volodmyr Groysman said next year’s budget includes money for modernizing customs operations.

• Inflation in Ukraine is way down this year, Delo reported, citing the Economic Development Ministry. Whereas past years saw inflation over 40 percent, this year the figure is just 14 percent.

• Ekonomichesakaya Pravda estimated that rebuilding war-torn Donbas will cost more than $20 billion.

• Year-on-year electricity consumption in Ukraine declined 2.3 percent in the first 10 months of the year, according to Interfax Ukraine. Industrial electricity consumption was down 2

• Ukraine extended its poultry ban to another European Union country, Austria, because of a highly virulent avian flu. The government is also considering regionalized restrictions on German poultry. This comes on the heels of bans on poultry imports from Bulgaria and Hungary.