The Financial Stability Board (FSB), which includes, in particular, the leadership of the National Bank and the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, proposes to abandon the preferential taxation of motor fuel. According to the press service of the NBU on the website on Monday, an increase in taxes on imports, in particular excises on fuel, is proposed as one of the ways to further increase budget revenues.
“According to the results of January-May 2022, the state budget deficit was larger than for the whole year of 2021 and 2020. Budget revenues decreased, including due to preferential taxation of imports, while at the same time, spending increased significantly, primarily for military needs and social programs,” the NBU said in a statement.
As reported, on June 23, the FSB agreed on key areas of action to narrow the state budget deficit and reduce the volume of its monetary financing: optimization of government spending and revenue growth, activation of domestic market borrowing and increasing the predictability of international aid.
At the end of March, the Rada adopted amendments to the Tax Code, according to which it canceled the excise tax on the supply of gasoline and liquefied gas and reduced VAT on the import of motor fuel to 7%.
Subsequently, a draft law was submitted to the Rada that provided for the rejection of these benefits, but these norms were excluded from it even before they were introduced to the hall, as they caused fears of an even greater increase in the price of fuel. As a result, from July 1, import privileges for most goods will be canceled, but they will remain for motor fuel.
The National Bank of Ukraine is also proposing to the government and the Rada to introduce a 10% additional import duty, similar to the one that existed in 2014-2015, to ease pressure on the hryvnia and replenish the state budget. However, the government and the profile committee have so far refused to apply such a measure.
Ukrainians imported 211,000 cars from Europe on preferential terms, and the number of imported cars increased by 48,000 in two weeks, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada committee on finance, tax and customs policy, said.
“As of June 27, 211,000 cars entered Ukraine under preferential customs clearance. Over the past 2 weeks, an additional 48,000 cars have been brought in,” he said on the Telegram channel on Monday.
The total amount of the benefits provided amounted to UAH 23.5 billion, he added.
After the news about the abolition of benefits from July 1, as envisaged by the legislative changes adopted by the Parliament, the pace of car imports has increased significantly. On weekdays in June, an average of 4.7 thousand cars are imported per day compared to 3.2 thousand in May, the People’s Deputy specified.
“In fact, it would probably be many times more, the throughput capacity of foreign and our customs limits. To understand, there are now a line of 1000 cars and 9.5 km at the same Budomez-Grushev, the Polish side passes very slowly. At the checkpoint” Yagodin “The queue is generally 40 km,” Zheleznyak pointed out.
“It is also significant that four times more than usual was imported over the weekend. This Saturday, 2,400 cars drove in, although this figure was usually less than 650 cars on weekends,” he added.
The leaders of the G7 countries will announce the provision of new financial, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine, Bloomberg reports citing a draft statement of these countries from the summit in Bavaria.
“We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine, as well as support it for as long as necessary,” the agency quotes from a document received by it.
Bloomberg emphasizes that this “wording is important because the members of the G7 are concerned about the prolongation” of the war. However, some countries, including Germany and France, “have hinted that they may be more open to the idea of a negotiated ceasefire.”
According to the agency, the document says that the leaders of the G7 are also considering the possibility of using revenue from duties to support Ukraine.
It is noted that earlier the G7 discussed how to coordinate actions to combat rising inflation and prevent a recession, as well as ways to maintain “pressure on Russia.”
The G7 summit is taking place in Bavaria on June 26-28.
Ukraine and Moldova are planning to resume rail traffic for freight traffic on the Berezino-Bessarabskaya section in autumn 2022.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development of the Republic of Moldova and the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine on the development of railway communication was signed on June 23, 2022, according to the website of the Moldovan Ministry.
The document was signed by Vice Prime Minister of Moldova Andrei Spinu and Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Alexander Kubrakov.
“Thus, the Republic of Moldova will be able to export / import goods through the port of Izmail, located on the Danube, reducing congestion in the port of Reni. At the same time, through this section of the railway line, Ukraine will be able to export goods to the Republic of Moldova and to the EU countries” , – indicated in the message.
The Berezino-Basarabskaya railway section on the territory of Ukraine was dismantled in 1997, and in 1999 the section between the stations “Rotovo” and “Raukhovka” on the aforementioned line bypassing Odessa was closed.
The construction of the site is expected to be carried out for approximately 23 km. Of these, 1.2 km of the railway will be built on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.
FREIGHT TRAFFIC, MOLDOVA, RAILWAY COMMUNICATION, UKRAINE, БЕРЕЗИНО-БЕССАРАБСКАЯ
On June 24, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Ukraine’s ambassadors to Georgia, the Slovak Republic, the Portuguese Republic, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Lebanese Republic by a series of decrees.
The relevant decrees No. 439/2022, No. 440/2022, No. 441/2022, No. 442/2022, No. 443/2022 are published on the website of the head of state.
So, Igor Dolgov was dismissed from the post of Ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia, Yuriy Mushka was dismissed from the post of Ambassador to Slovakia, Inna Ognivets – the post of Ambassador to Portugal.
Zelensky also fired Serhiy Burdilyaka from the post of Ukrainian ambassador to Iran and Igor Ostash from the post of ambassador to Lebanon.
In 2017, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko appointed Igor Dolgov, former Deputy of Defense of Ukraine for European Integration, to the post of Ambassador of Ukraine to Georgia.
In 2016, Poroshenko appointed diplomat Yuriy Mushka as Ambassador of Ukraine to the Slovak Republic, and Igor Ostash as Ambassador to Lebanon.
In 2015, Poroshenko appointed Inna Ognivets as Ambassador of Ukraine to the Portuguese Republic and Serhiy Burdilyak as Ambassador of Ukraine to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The EU will allocate 9 billion euros in aid to Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said.
“This historical moment and the language of today’s conclusions have been rejected for a long time. We have changed this with many countries. Ukraine is at war and has nothing to pay for many public services, so we have approved the allocation of 9 billion euros in aid,” Morawiecki said. on the page of the Office of the Polish Prime Minister on Twitter on Friday.
