The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine has called on Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev to amend the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the excise tax rate on heated tobacco products, according to the organization’s website.
“Since January 2021, law No. 466 has increased the tax rate on heated tobacco products by 320%. In the current economic realities, such a sharp increase in tax can lead to devastating consequences for the market and the economy of the country, since a significant increase in the price of such products will contribute to growth of illegal market, as a result of which the state will not receive the planned budget revenues,” the organization said.
According to the companies-members of the chamber, the plan to increase the excise tax rate on cigarettes needs to be amended by increasing it until 2030 with a 10% annual rate increase, as well as maintaining the current ad valorem component of the excise tax. At the same time, from January 1, 2021, the amount of excise tax is UAH 1,456 per 1,000 pieces with an annual tax rate increase of 20% to UAH 2,517 in 2024.
According to the American Chamber of Commerce, from January 1 of this year, the amendments introduced by law No. 466 also make it impossible to sell, transport and store liquids for electronic cigarettes already produced in 2020. Such restriction deprives tobacco companies of the opportunity to exercise their right to property, including storing, transporting, selling or exporting products outside the customs territory of Ukraine, the message said.
As reported, on January 16, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada adopted law No. 1210, which introduced amendments to the Tax Code, increasing the excise tax rate on heated tobacco products four-fold from January 1, 2021.
The decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine to return to state ownership of a part of the main oil product pipeline Samara-Western Direction will lead to a halt in supplies along it, but will not cause a deficit and a significant increase in prices for diesel fuel, A-95 Consulting Group said.
“We see no prerequisites for resource tension in the market. In the past three years, the loading of the oil product pipeline has decreased, the main reason was the introduction in the summer of 2019 of a special duty of 3.75% [now 4%] on pipeline supplies of Russian diesel fuel. As a result, if in 2018 imports through Prykarpatzakhidtrans amounted to 1.98 million tonnes [30.5%], then in 2019 it was 1.23 million tonnes [17.76%], and in 2020 – some 635,000 tonnes [8.57%],” the group said in a statement.
According to A-95 Group Director Serhiy Kuyun, the Ukrainian market is diversified to the maximum, and it will not be difficult to replace the 50,000 tonnes of pipeline supplies per month.
“This will happen both due to reorientation of pipeline volumes for shipment by railway, and due to reserves of domestic oil refining and imports by sea,” he said.
Kuyun, in particular, assumes that at least 20,000-30,000 tonnes can additionally be delivered to Ukraine from the Belarusian terminal in Gomel, where Russian diesel fuel is transshipped form the pipeline Samara-Western Direction to the railway transport. Also, from March, an increase in imports of Russian diesel fuel by railway across the eastern border is expected. A large margin of capacity for transshipping from the sea remains at the Ukrainian ports: they are used by less than 30%. We can also count on a slight increase in supplies from Belarus.
“The greatest potential has Ukrainian oil refineries, which are loaded with raw materials by less than 30%. The main reason is the disproportion in excise taxes on motor fuels. It stimulates the consumption of diesel fuel and liquefied gas, which Ukraine is forced to import by 70-80%. A solution to this problem could give an incentive to increase oil refining and, as a result, reduce import dependence on all fuel types,” Kuyun said.
A-95 Consulting Group does not exclude an insignificant (within 1-1.5%) increase in wholesale prices for diesel fuel in the central and western regions, where pipeline diesel fuel was mainly distributed.
As reported, Prykarpatzakhidtrans operates a section of the Samara-Western Direction oil product pipeline with a length of about 1,100 km, intended for pumping diesel fuel from Russia and Belarus, both for the internal needs of Ukraine and for transit to Europe, in particular, to Hungary. The design capacity of the pipeline is 3.5 million tonnes per year.
The Ukrainian section of the Samara-Western Direction oil product pipeline belongs to Prykarpatzakhidtrans LLC (Rivne). Until 2016, the company was a structural subdivision of Russia’s Transneft subsidiary Transnefteprodukt. In February 2016, Transneft sold Prykarpatzakhidtrans to the Swiss International Trading Partners AG. In March 2019, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) allowed the unitary enterprise Oil Bitumen Plant, owned by the large private Belarusian oil trader Interservice, to acquire control over Prykarpatzakhidtrans.
At present, Prykarpatzakhidtrans with a charter capital of UAH 105.563 million belongs to the Oil Bitumen Plant (51%), International Trading Partners (48%) and Anatoliy Shefer (1%).
The pipeline was built during the Soviet era and after the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence was to become the property of the state on the basis of succession, as a main pipeline. At the same time, Russian Transnefteprodukt did not transfer this pipeline to the ownership of Ukraine. In 2011, the Economic Court of Rivne region recognized the Ukraines’s ownership of a part of the pipeline passing through the territory of Ukraine, and the Economic Court of Appeal and Supreme Economic Court in 2014-2015 upheld this decision.
However, in 2015, the Economic Court of Rivne region canceled the decision due to allegedly newly discovered circumstances. Later, in 2017, the same court ruled that the ownership of a part of the oil product pipeline belonged to Prykarpatzakhidtrans LLC. It was based on the conclusion of the forensic engineering and technical expertise of the experts of the Ukrainian Research and Design Institute of Nitrogen Industry and Organic Synthesis Products that this pipeline was not a main pipeline. The NABU considers such a conclusion to be deliberately false, therefore, together with the SBU in February 2021, it announced suspicions to the experts.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, by decree of February 19, 2021, put into effect the NSDC decision on taking measures to protect the property interests of the state, which, among other things, instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to determine the central executive body responsible for the preservation and operation of a part of the oil product pipeline passing through the territory of Ukraine.
According to NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov, “an instruction has been given to all relevant bodies: to return the property of the Ukrainian people in a legal way and to find out why the state property ended up in private hands.”
DESTABILIZE, OIL PRODUCT, PIPELINE, PRYKARPATZAKHIDTRANS, UKRAINIAN MARKET
The COVID-19 crisis has taken a heavy toll on human life, as well as damaged economies and livelihoods. Vaccines have emerged as the best way to ensure not only public health security, but also restore economic sectors affected by the crisis. In this context, the Government of Ukraine had reached out to the Government of India for support.
Given India and Ukraine’s multifaceted and strong bilateral relations, the Embassy of India in Ukraine, with the support of the Government of India, has facilitated the supply of vaccines to Ukraine in February, in order to initiate Ukraine’s public vaccination drive. Ukraine is one of the early countries to receive vaccine from India in February.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a personal request to Prime Minister Modi. In addition, sustained efforts by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in collaboration with the Ambassador of India in Ukraine Partha Satpathy have ensured that necessary agreements and permissions could be concluded on time for supply the first tranche of vaccines- 500,000 doses of Astra-Zeneca and Serum Institute of India developed COVISHIELD vaccine.
Going forward, larger quantities of Made in India vaccines are expected to be supplied as production is ramped up in India. There is regular contact between the Governments of Ukraine and India, and with vaccine manufacturers, to secure more vaccines for Ukraine. This supply of vaccine is another exemplar of the major role played by Indian pharmaceutical industry in ensuring the health security of Ukraine.
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Ambassador’s meeting with Health Minister Maksym Stepanov
The Indian vaccine Covishield, the delivery of which to Ukraine was negotiated by Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov, will arrive at Boryspil airport in the morning of February 23, Deputy Head of the President’s Office of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko has said.
“Tomorrow morning the vaccine will arrive. This is information from the Ministry of Health and information from a logistics company. In the morning tomorrow the plane will be in Boryspil. This is the first batch that will be next. The next delivery is within a week or ten days, as I understand it,” Tymoshenko said in the Svoboda Slova (Freedom of Speech) program on the ICTV television channel on the evening of Monday, February 22.
He also said “the controversies that were in different studios can already be finished,” answering the question of the presenter “What is the optimism of the deputy head of the President’s Office based on that the vaccine will really arrive, given that the supplies of AstroZeneca and Phizer, which should to be in Ukraine on February 15 and 16, are they delaying?”
According to Tymoshenko, as soon as the plane arrives, the first batch of vaccine will be delivered to a logistics warehouse, from which it will be delivered to some regions on the same day, and then the first stage of vaccination with mobile groups starts. As reported, doctors who work with patients with coronavirus (COVID-19) will be the first to be vaccinated.
Creatio, a corporate group providing a leading low-code platform for process management and CRM, which includes Terrasoft in its group, has raised minority investments in the amount of $68 million from Volition Capital Fund IV, L.P. (the United States) and Horizon Capital, the company said on Monday.
As noted in the message, Volition Capital acted as a lead investor, and Horizon Capital acted as a co-investor.
Creatio said that company’s team, management, and strategy, as well as its product vision and willingness to provide an exceptional customer experience, remain unchanged.
The received funds will be used to further accelerate expansion in the global market, strengthen R&D and actively develop the partner ecosystem in 110 countries of the world.
“Now is a critical time for digital and IT leaders to leverage tech and transform their organizations into low-code companies. This investment will allow us to keep building toward the vision of creating the new world, where any company can automate and change their business processes at speed and scale,” co-founder and CEO at Creatio Katherine Kostereva said.
Managing Partner at Volition Capital Sean Cantwell, in turn, said that market category of low-code platforms for process management and CRM has outstanding growth potential.
Creatio notes that according to analysts’ forecasts, the volume of the global market of low-code platforms will reach $187 billion by 2030.
“We are delighted to partner with the Creatio team. Creatio truly has it all to deliver on its ambitious expansion plans – a first-class team committed to its customers, solid execution, and strong product innovation,” Founding Partner and CEO at Horizon Capital Lenna Koszarny said.
As reported, earlier the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine gave permission to change the ownership structure of the Creatio Group and the entry of Volition Capital Fund as a minority shareholder.
The Creatio partner network numbers 700 or more organizations around the world. One of the key players in the global low-code, BPM and CRM market is Terrasoft, known for its Creatio (formerly bpm’online) software products. Terrasoft is part of the Creatio international group of companies, which employs 600 or more people, and clients are represented in 100 or more countries.
Volition Capital is a joint-stock company investing in high-potential technology companies owned by their founders.
CREATIO, HORIZON CAPITAL, INVESTMENTS, US VOLITION CAPITAL FUND
Foreign trade turnover by the most important positions in Jan-Nov 2020 (import).
