The victory of the tax amnesty will be the withdrawal of $20 billion from the informal economy, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev has said.
“I think it will be a victory if we withdraw up to $20 billion from the informal economy,” the MP said on the air of the program Freedom of Speech of Savik Shuster on Friday evening, March 5.
At the same time, according to him, it is difficult to predict the possible income of the government from the legalization of such assets.
“The fiscal goal is not the priority goal [of the tax amnesty],” Hetmantsev said.
As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky registered in parliament a package of bills on tax amnesty, namely, bills No. 5153 (amendments to the Tax Code), No. 5154 (amendments to the Budget Code), No. 5155 (amendments to currency legislation), as well as bill No. 5156 with amendments to the Criminal Code and other laws. The bills propose a tax amnesty with a special duty rate for one-time declaration of 5% for currency valuables deposited in bank accounts in Ukraine and other assets in Ukraine, as well as at a rate of 9% for currency in bank accounts and other assets located abroad.
Potato producer Central Plains Group Ukraine (CPG) intends to build a waste-free potato processing plant in Hlyniany (Lviv region) with a capacity of 40,000-50,000 tonnes per year.
This is stated in a posting on the website of the Lviv Regional State Administration.
“We grow potatoes and cooperate with the Frito-Lay company, which produces chips. Now every sixth pack of chips of this company is made from our potatoes, and in general, this is every tenth pack in Ukraine. Ambitious plans are that every fourth pack in Ukraine was from our potatoes,” member of the Board of Directors and a representative of the Finnish Investment Fund Oleh Drin said.
According to the administration, investors from CPG Ukraine and Governor Maksym Kozytsky discussed the working aspects of the project, in particular the permits for the construction of a potato processing plant. CPG also discussed the possibility of repairing the Zastavne-Hlyniany road in 2021 with the regional administration.
The administration said that the company, founded by a group of farmers from the U.K. and Finland, plans to invest about $7 million in a project for waste-free processing of potatoes (including starch) and create about 50 jobs.
“For the profitable operation of the plant there is a great need for raw materials. We plan to establish cooperation with local farmers and build an effective process for growing and supplying raw materials to the plant. We plan to cooperate with USAID on the development of farming and in the future to establish a process for purchasing potatoes from farmers,” Drin said.
According to the administration, CPG in 2020 grew 15,000 tonnes of potatoes in Kamianka-Buzka and Sambir districts of Lviv region on a total area of 700 hectares.
Last year, the company put into operation the first stage of potato storage facility with a capacity of 11,000 tonnes with refrigeration equipment. This year, CPG plans to build a second stage of the potato storage facility with a similar capacity.
Among Ukrainian politicians, Volodymyr Zelensky (39.5% of Ukrainians trust him), Vitali Klitschko (33.8%), Serhiy Prytula (31.6%) and Volodymyr Groysman (31%) enjoy the highest level of trust from the population among Ukrainian politicians, evidenced by the results of an all-Ukrainian public opinion poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from February 23 to March 1, 2021.
According to the survey, 39.5% of Ukrainians trust President Volodymyr Zelensky, while 54.3% do not trust him (the balance of trust-distrust is -14.7%); Kyiv mayor Klitschko is trusted by 33.8%, 52.8% do not trust him (balance -19%); public activist, volunteer and TV presenter Prytula is trusted by 31.6%, 34% do not trust him (balance -2.3%); ex-prime minister Volodymyr Groisman has trust of 31%, 53.1% have no confidence in him (balance -22.1%); Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov has trust of 28.3%, no trust from 30.6% (balance -2.3%).
At the same time, 26.3% of Ukrainians trust MP Yulia Tymoshenko, 67.6% have distrust of her (the balance of trust and distrust is 41.3%); MP Yuriy Boiko has trust of 24.6%, 52.2% have no confidence in him (balance -27.6%), ex-MP Oleh Liashko is trusted by 23.2%, 69.5% do not trust him (balance -46.3%), 22.4% trust Ihor Smeshko, 22.6% do not trust him (balance -0.2%), the fifth president, Petro Poroshenko, is trusted by 21.9%, 73.5% have no confidence in him (balance -51.6%).
The level of trust in other politicians is below 20%.
If we compare the percentage of confidence in a politician with the same indicator in January 2021, the greatest changes can be traced in the case with Zelensky – an increase from 35.6% to 39.5%, Prytula – an increase from 27.3% to 31.6%, Boiko – a decrease from 28.9% to 24.6%, Medvedchuk – a decrease from 19.6% to 16.2%, Palytsia – a decrease from 5.3% to 3%.
The respondents were also asked a similar question about trust in the leaders of other states.
As it turned out, 30.3% Ukrainians trust Alexander Lukashenko, while 56.8% do not trust him, so his balance of trust-distrust is -26.5%. Moreover, compared to January 2021, the level of trust in him decreased.
Joe Biden is trusted by 29.4% of Ukrainians, and not trusted by 25.5%. Its balance is positive and amounts to + 3.9%, respectively. Compared to January 2021, no significant changes have been observed.
Vladimir Putin was the most unfavorable among Ukrainians – 82.4% do not trust him versus 10.8% of those who trust (-71.6% balance).
The public opinion poll was conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology from February 23 to March 1, 2021 using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). Some 1,207 respondents living in 86 settlements of all regions of Ukraine (except for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) were randomly selected during three rounds with a quota selection at the final round, which is representative for the population of Ukraine aged over 18.
The margin of sampling error for the full sample is not more than 2.9% for indicators close to 50%, 2.5% for indicators close to 25%, 1.9% for indicators close to 12%, and 1.3% for indicators close to 5%.
Since March 1, Ukraine has resumed the export of electricity from the Burshtyn TPP island to the European power system ENTSO-E, according to data on the ENTSO-E platform.
According to the operational data of NPC Ukrenergo, as of 18:45 Tuesday, electricity exports to Hungary were at the level of 486 MW, Poland – 210 MW, Romania – 93 MW; and the total volume was 789 MW.
At the same time, electricity to Ukraine was imported from Slovakia at the level of 188 MW, Hungary – 160 MW, Romania – 62 MW; with a total volume of 410 MW.
The import of electricity to the Integrated Power System of Ukraine (IPS) from Belarus also remained at the level of 100 MW.
According to market participants, the resumption of electricity exports to Europe became possible after a decrease in electricity consumption in Ukraine as a result of warm weather, as well as an increase in the load on nuclear power plants, which now operate in the amount of 12 power units out of 15.
“In the winter period of the shortage, three units at Burshtyn TPP instead of export were supplying power to Ukraine, the rest of the units met the conditions of ENTSO-E capacity order, and also provided the consumers of the island itself,” First Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Energy Assembly Yuriy Sakva told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the data of SOE Market Operator, as of March 2, the price of electricity on the day-ahead market (DAM) in the Burshtyn TPP island in the database was EUR 46.49 per MWh, while in Romania it was EUR 48.29, in Hungary – EUR 53.19 and Poland – EUR 62.30 per MWh.
Transit shipments of Russian gas through Ukraine have increased as temperatures in Europe have normalized, data from Gazprom, the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine and European gas transport operators show.
Over the weekend, temperatures in Europe dropped from unusually warm double digits back to average figures for this time of year.
Gazprom pumped 106 million cubic meters of gas through Ukraine on February 27 (nominations for Sunday and Monday are the same), while from February 17 to 26 it pumped an average of 79 mcm per day, with a low of 66.2 mcm on February 20.
The Russian gas giant had booked a far larger amount of transit for February: 123.2 mcm per day, including 109 mcm under its long-term transit contract and an additional 14.2 mcm based on monthly booking.
Upon arrival in Ukraine on March 2, President of the European Council Charles Michel, together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, will visit the east of the country and meet with representatives of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO).
“At 13:00 Kyiv time on March 2, he is to begin a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky; at 13:10 Kyiv time, he is to meet with representatives of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO),” the European Council said in an announcement on its website.
It is expected that on this day a meeting with representatives of the OSCE SMM and organizations that provide humanitarian assistance to Donbas may also take place. At the end of the day, Presidents Michel and Zelensky will hold a joint press conference.
The second day of the visit will take place in Kyiv on March 3 and will begin with a meeting between the European Council President and representatives of anti-corruption institutions, followed by a visit to the vaccination center. The visit will end with a meeting with President Zelensky and a joint press conference with him.
As previously reported, the President of the European Council began his visit to the countries of the Eastern Partnership on Sunday. In particular, he visited Moldova on February 28, and on March 1 he is to visit Georgia.
