The currency for import will become more expensive by 10% due to the new fee
Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy of the Verkhovna Rada, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, announced this.
"They chose the concept of not additional import duties (which is difficult to administer), but the introduction of a 10% tax on currency exchange transactions for the purchase of all imported goods and services," he said .
The deputy noted that according to the government's calculations, this should reduce the demand for imported goods and pressure on the hryvnia.
It is expected that the Cabinet of Ministers will introduce the draft law in the coming weeks.
Currently, exporters are selling the dollar on the interbank exchange at the official exchange rate of UAH 36.57/$, while importers are buying the dollar 1% more expensive - at UAH 36.94. With the additional fee, importers of goods and services will buy a dollar for approximately UAH 40.63 .
Yury Gaidai, senior economist of the Center for Economic Strategy, believes that exporters will start importing at the expense of their own currency earnings. "Because minus 10% of the purchase price can be enough of a competitive advantage in certain markets to motivate it, " he noted . In addition, there are incentives for black imports and smuggling for cash.
However, the new fee, in his opinion, can bring more than $500 million in monthly revenue to the state budget; prices will increase by less than 10%; and in general it is a painful but necessary solution to curb the demand for currency in a warring country.
The Council of the National Bank of Ukraine supports additional taxation of imports . "It is appropriate to introduce additional import taxation, taking into account the need to support the competitiveness of domestic producers and the significant shortage of currency on the market," the recommendations state.
Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko previously announced that the government is currently discussing the concept of an additional customs duty. According to him, if in March receipts from customs were at the level of UAH 7 billion, then in July - more than UAH 22 billion. However, this is only 56% of planned pre-war indicators.
Source: Financial Club