The Verkhovna Rada is proposed to introduce ceiling prices for certain types of export products, upon exceeding which exporting companies will be obliged to pay 50% of the revenues received in excess of the established limit to the state budget, which will make it possible to replenish the state budget for a total amount of $ 6.37 billion per year and redirect these funds to support the social sphere.
Corresponding bill No. 5666 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on June 16 by MPs Oleh Dunda, Bohdan Yaremenko and Oleksandr Aleksiychuk (all of them are from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction).
According to an explanatory note to the bill, it is proposed to tax a portion of foreign currency earnings exceeding the limits established by the bill with a 50% tax. For wheat, the limit is proposed to be set at $ 230/tonne (as of June 1, its average export price is $ 283/tonne), corn – $ 170/tonne ($ 271/tonne), rapeseeds – $ 350/tonne ($ 568/tonne), oats – $ 230/tonne ($ 265/tonne), sunflower oil – $ 850/tonne ($ 1,300/tonne). Accordingly, if a 50% tax is imposed on part of the profits received by exporters in excess of the established limits, the state budget will receive $ 450 million from taxation of exported wheat, corn will bring $ 1.21 billion, rapeseeds – $ 440 million, oats – $ 10 million, sunflower oil – $ 1.57 billion, the document says.
It is also proposed to tax the profits exceeding the established limits for exporters of iron ore, steel scrap and rebar, aluminum, copper, zinc and nickel.
According to the explanatory note to the document, the taxation of “excess profits” in these commodity groups will make it possible to replenish the state budget for a total of $ 6.37 billion per year.
“The tax is levied on excess profits, that is, the profits that a business entity received by taking advantage of the favorable market conditions. Usually this is a temporary measure that is applied when the country’s budget is experiencing an acute deficit,” the authors of the bill explain.
Ukraine this year will launch a project to build a new format of hospitals that will correspond to the level of European clinics, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“One of the steps towards high-quality medicine will be our new project – the launch of hospitals of a new, qualitatively different format, according to the best international standards. Hospitals are equally comfortable for both the patient and the doctor. We are starting this project this year with regional clinical and children’s hospitals, which should correspond to the level of European clinics,” Zelensky said during a speech on the Medical Worker Day, which was broadcast by the President’s Office on Facebook.
According to the president, this project will be implemented in every region.
“The new institutions will become an example of quality for future plans to renovate all hospitals in Ukraine,” he added.
According to Zelensky, the construction of hospitals is also ongoing under the Big Construction national program.
“Some 33 hospitals and 60 rural outpatient clinics have already been created. It is planned to have 30 more medical institutions and 340 rural outpatient clinics by the end of 2021, plus 200 modern admission departments throughout Ukraine,” the president said.
Ukraine in January-May 2021 reduced electricity exports by 44.5% (by 1.172 billion kWh) compared to the same period in 2020, to 1.403 billion kWh, according to data from Ukrenergo.
According to the calculations of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, in particular, supplies from the Burshtyn TPP energy island in the direction of Hungary, Slovakia and Romania fell by 1.8 times (by 769.8 million kWh), to 1.002 billion 2 kWh.
Electricity supplies to Poland almost halved (by 318.3 million kWh) compared to the same period last year, to 353.3 million kWh.
Electricity exports to Moldova decreased by 2.8 times (by 83.4 million kWh), to 46.8 million kWh.
There were no deliveries to Belarus and the Russian Federation in January-May 2021 and 2020.
In May 2021, Ukrainian electricity exports amounted to 125.1 million kWh, which is 3.7 times more than in May 2020 (460 million kWh).
In addition, Ukraine in January-May 2021 reduced electricity imports by 1.8 times (by 756 million kWh) compared to the same period last year, to 981.7 million kWh. In particular, supplies from Belarus amounted to 522.6 million kWh, Slovakia – 254.4 million kWh, Russia – 101.9 million kWh, Hungary – 66.2 million kWh, Romania – 36.6 million kWh.
As reported, in 2020 Ukraine reduced electricity exports by 26.5% (by 1.715 billion kWh) compared to 2019, to 4.754 billion kWh. Electricity export revenue decreased by 25.9% (by $97.937 million), to $280.831 million.
Over the past day, June 17, some 81,713 people have been vaccinated against coronavirus infection in Ukraine, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine reports on the Telegram channel.
Some 57,970 people received one dose, 23,743 people were fully immunized.
During the day, 618 mobile teams and 964 vaccination stations worked.
Since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, 1,652,055 people have been vaccinated, of which 1,652,053 people received one dose, 337,345 people were fully immunized and received two doses (two of them received one dose abroad). A total of 1,989,398 inoculations were carried out.
The European Business Association (EBA) has called on the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade of Ukraine to make efforts to resume the free trade regime with Belarus.
“The European Business Association calls on the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade of Ukraine to make every effort to restore the free trade regime,” the EBA said.
“In June 2021, Belarus introduced an individual licensing regime for the import of a range of Ukrainian goods. The new regime should be applied to household goods, agricultural machinery, etc. The decision was caused by the fact that the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade of Ukraine introduced a special duty on imports of wheeled vehicles from the Republic of Belarus to Ukraine,” the report says.
“This issue is extremely relevant for a number of Ukrainian companies that have already suffered from the introduction of new trade restrictions and suffered losses of millions of dollars,” it reds.
“This situation has put many producers in a difficult position, as many businesses have cooperated with the neighboring country. Thus, if the situation is not tackled, some Ukrainian companies will be forced to partially close production, cut jobs, and so on. In the absence of a rapid response from the Ukrainian government, the Belarusian market could be lost for years. The losses for both countries can be reduced if both sides reconsider their decisions, which grossly violate the free trade regime,” the EBA said.
The number of deaths in Ukraine in April 2021 amounted to 68,620, which is 48.5% more than in April 2020, the State Statistics Service reported on Friday. This is the highest rate of deaths since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the service, in general, since the beginning of the year, 242,670 people have died in Ukraine, which is 24.3% more than in the last leap year.
As reported, in August 2020, the number of deaths in the country was 3.9% more than in August a year earlier, in September – by 15.4%, in October – by 17.5%, in November – by 35%, in December – by 42.9%, in January of this year – by 7.7%, in February – by 9%, and in March – by 34.4%.
