Ukraine

The Surrey Board of Trade is committed to supporting efforts by our Canadian government and allies to take strong measures to end the conflict and help the Ukrainian people. We express our solidarity with the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian business community during these tragic times for their country.

UKRAINIAN REFUGEES IN CANADA

TODAY (March 17, 2022) a special immigration program was announced that will allow Ukrainian refugees to live and work in Canada for up to three years. The program, called the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel, waives many of the typical requirements for Canadian visa applications. Applicants do not have to hold valid passports and family members of Ukrainian refugees “of any nationality” can also apply for temporary Canadian residency through the program.

Apply for the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel

Call to action: Canadian Industry for Ukraine – How can I help?

The Government of Canada is making an appeal to Canadian businesses interested in providing support to displaced Ukrainians arriving in Canada. Canada has partnered with the Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance – Alliance canadienne du secteur de l’établissement des immigrants (CISSA-ACSEI) and its national network of settlement organizations to provide direct and critical support to those in need. Donations from Canadian businesses will go to Ukrainians and other displaced persons making Canada their home.

Recording of Round Table Meeting with Ukraine Ministers of Economy, March 22, 2022

Round table meeting with the Deputy Minister Alexander Griban, Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, Deputy Minister Taras Kachka, Ministry of Economy of Ukraine.

The Ministry of Economy of the Government of Ukraine is urgently seeking the following items for purchase (mln = million):

10 mln packs of pasta (all types, each pack 500-1000g)
50 mln packs of canned meat/ or fish (each pack 100-500g) – in necessary amount of meat/fish is not available, we may consider canned beans (ready to consume)
20 mln of army food packs (one day ration – 3 meals) of NATO standard or UN standard
10 mln packs of rice (all types, each pack 500-1000g)
10 mln packs of cereals (all types, each pack 500-1000g)
Delivery by sea to Constantsa (Romania) – we will organize further shipment by rail to Ukraine.

They are ready to pay 30% immediately and the rest 60%, when the food is loaded in the ship and custom documents, are confirmed and 10% when containers are delivered to Romania.

This is their immediate need that they would like to procure in the following 1-2 days. And deliver immediately.

Exporters who have potential supplies please email: ukraine@tradecouncil.org.

Please provide exact quantities available, commercial price, delivery lead time in any correspondence.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE WITH LAPEL PINS

Order your Stand with Ukraine Pins made by Go To Promotions Inc.

FOR UKRAINE NEWCOMERS

Talent Beyond Boundaries

Jumpstart Refugee Talent

Talent Beyond Borders is working with Jumpstart Refugee Talent to facilitate job matching between employers and displaced talent. Please contact, Lara Dyer, Canada Director, Talent Beyond Boundaries at ldyer@talentbeyondboundaries.org. or Mehrangiz Monsef, EMPP Program Manager, Jumpstart Refugee Talent at Mehrangiz.Monsef@ jumpstartrefugee.ca. for more information.

Canada Program
TC Snapshot

Jobs for Ukraine

On this page you will find information for: Employers Hiring, Ukrainian Job Seekers, Community Groups

How War in Ukraine Is Reverberating Across World’s Regions

Blog By By Alfred Kammer, Jihad Azour, Abebe Aemro Selassie, IIan Goldfajn and Changyong Rhee

(IMAGE: ANDREW STANLEY/IMF)

Beyond the suffering and humanitarian crisis from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the entire global economy will feel the effects of slower growth and faster inflation.

Impacts will flow through three main channels. One, higher prices for commodities like food and energy will push up inflation further, in turn eroding the value of incomes and weighing on demand. Two, neighboring economies, in particular, will grapple with disrupted trade, supply chains, and remittances as well as an historic surge in refugee flows. And three, reduced business confidence and higher investor uncertainty will weigh on asset prices, tightening financial conditions and potentially spurring capital outflows from emerging markets.

Russia and Ukraine are major commodities producers, and disruptions have caused global prices to soar, especially for oil and natural gas. Food costs have jumped, with wheat, for which Ukraine and Russia make up 30 percent of global exports, reaching a record.

Beyond global spillovers, countries with direct trade, tourism, and financial exposures will feel additional pressures. Economies reliant on oil imports will see wider fiscal and trade deficits and more inflation pressure, though some exporters such as those in the Middle East and Africa may benefit from higher prices.

Steeper price increases for food and fuel may spur a greater risk of unrest in some regions, from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America to the Caucasus and Central Asia, while food insecurity is likely to further increase in parts of Africa and the Middle East.

Gauging these reverberations is hard, but we already see our growth forecasts as likely to be revised down next month when we will offer a fuller picture in our World Economic Outlook and regional assessments.

Longer term, the war may fundamentally alter the global economic and geopolitical order should energy trade shift, supply chains reconfigure, payment networks fragment, and countries rethink reserve currency holdings. Increased geopolitical tension further raises risks of economic fragmentation, especially for trade and technology.

Europe

The toll is already immense in Ukraine. Unprecedented sanctions on Russia will impair financial intermediation and trade, inevitably causing a deep recession there. The ruble’s depreciation is fueling inflation, further diminishing living standards for the population.

Energy is the main spillover channel for Europe as Russia is a critical source of natural gas imports. Wider supply-chain disruptions may also be consequential. These effects will fuel inflation and slow the recovery from the pandemic. Eastern Europe will see rising financing costs and a refugee surge. It has absorbed most of the 3 million people who recently fled Ukraine, United Nations data show.

European governments also may confront fiscal pressures from additional spending on energy security and defense budgets.

While foreign exposures to plunging Russian assets are modest by global standards, pressures on emerging markets may grow should investors seek safer havens. Similarly, most European banks have modest and manageable direct exposures to Russia.

Caucasus and Central Asia

Beyond Europe, these neighboring nations will feel greater consequences from Russia’s recession and the sanctions. Close trade and payment-system links will curb trade, remittances, investment, and tourism, adversely affecting economic growth, inflation, and external and fiscal accounts.

While commodity exporters should benefit from higher international prices, they face the risk of reduced energy exports if sanctions extend to pipelines through Russia.

Middle East and North Africa

Major ripple effects from higher food and energy prices and tighter global financial conditions are likely. Egypt, for example, imports about 80 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. And, as a popular tourist destination for both, it will also see visitor spending shrink.

Policies to contain inflation, such as raising government subsidies, could pressure already weak fiscal accounts. In addition, worsening external financing conditions may spur capital outflows and add to growth headwinds for countries with elevated debt levels and large financing needs.

Rising prices may raise social tensions in some countries, such as those with weak social safety nets, few job opportunities, limited fiscal space, and unpopular governments.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Just as the continent was gradually recovering from the pandemic, this crisis threatens that progress. Many countries in the region are particularly vulnerable to the war’s effects, specifically because of higher energy and food prices, reduced tourism, and potential difficulty accessing international capital markets.

The conflict comes when most countries have minimal policy space to counter the effects of the shock. This is likely to intensify socio-economic pressures, public debt vulnerability, and scarring from the pandemic that was already confronting millions of households and businesses.

Record wheat prices are particularly concerning for a region that imports around 85 percent of its supplies, one-third of which comes from Russia or Ukraine.

Western Hemisphere

Food and energy prices are the main channel for spillovers, which will be substantial in some cases. High commodity prices are likely to significantly quicken inflation for Latin America and the Caribbean, which already faces an 8 percent average annual rate across five of the largest economies: Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Central banks may have to further defend inflation-fighting credibility.

Growth effects of costly commodities vary. Higher oil prices hurt Central American and Caribbean importers, while exporters of oil, copper, iron ore, corn, wheat, and metals can charge more for their products and mitigate the impact on growth.

Financial conditions remain relatively favorable, but intensifying conflict may cause global financial distress that, with tighter domestic monetary policy, will weigh on growth.

The United States has few ties to Ukraine and Russia, diluting direct effects, but inflation was already at a four-decade high before the war boosted commodity prices. That means prices may keep rising as the Federal Reserve starts raising interest rates.

Asia and the Pacific

Spillovers from Russia are likely limited given the lack of close economic ties, but slower growth in Europe and the global economy will take a heavy toll on major exporters.

The biggest effects on current accounts will be in the petroleum importers of ASEAN economies, India, and frontier economies including some Pacific Islands. This could be amplified by declining tourism for nations reliant on Russian visits.

For China, immediate effects should be smaller because fiscal stimulus will support this year’s 5.5 percent growth goal and Russia buys a relatively small amount of its exports. Still, commodity prices and weakening demand in big export markets add to challenges.

Spillovers are similar for Japan and Korea, where new oil subsidies may ease impacts. Higher energy prices will raise India’s inflation, already at the top of the central bank’s target range.

Asia’s food-price pressures should be eased by local production and more reliance on rice than wheat. Costly food and energy imports will boost consumer prices, though subsidies and price caps for fuel, food and fertilizer may ease the immediate impact—but with fiscal costs.

Global Shocks

The consequences of Russia’s war on Ukraine have already shaken not just those nations but also the region and the world, and point to the importance of a global safety net and regional arrangements in place to buffer economies.

“We live in a more shock-prone world,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters at a briefing in Washington. “And we need the strength of the collective to deal with shocks to come.”

While some effects may not fully come into focus for many years, there are already clear signs that the war and resulting jump in costs for essential commodities will make it harder for policymakers in some countries to strike the delicate balance between containing inflation and supporting the economic recovery from the pandemic.

RESOURCES

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s ‘How businesses and Canadians can help Ukraine’ webpage includes links to the specific areas of greatest need that outline meaningful ways to assist and make donations. The page also includes key information from Global Affairs Canada related to trade sanctions, as well as information on ways that businesses can support humanitarian efforts. This page will be updated as the situation develops.
Global Affairs’ email for individuals or groups seeking to provide humanitarian assistance in Ukraine: IHA-Ukraine@international.gc.ca
The Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce is working with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress to help provide job placements for Ukrainians who are arriving to Canada. If you are aware of open positions within your networks and would like to assist with this or other related matters, please contact Olha Mandyuk at omandyuk@cucc.ca. Additionally, for those interested in volunteering their time/expertise in support of Ukrainians affected by the war in Ukraine, you can also share your information with The Ukrainian Canadian Congress here.
To get in touch directly with your local Ukrainian community, the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce has indicated that you can contact your respective (or nearest) provincial chapter of The Ukrainian Canadian Congress: British Columbia – vancouver@ucc.ca.
If you would like to get in touch with Scott Knox (Institute of Canadian Agencies) regarding how to ensure that the marketing funds of your chamber/association are not supporting Russia or Belarus, please contact Scott at scott@theica.ca.

If you have any questions and/or thoughts you would like to share, do not hesitate to contact our President and CEO at
anita@businessinsurrey.com.