Government proposes reducing 2019 budget revenues by UAH 20.4 bln – Finance Ministry

"A revenue analysis shows that this year revenues from customs payments will not be paid due to a stronger exchange rate of the hryvnia to the U.S. dollar and the euro (the actual average exchange rate for the first nine months of this year was UAH 26.4 per U.S. dollar with the 2019 forecast being UAH 28.2 per U.S. dollar). Therefore, draft amendments to the state budget for 2019 envisage a reduction of the state budget revenue target for 2019 by UAH 20.4 billion, including due to a decrease in planned revenues from VAT on imported goods and the import duty due to the strengthening of the hryvnia to the U.S. dollar and the euro," the report said.

The ministry stressed that this decline in revenues was offset by a reduction in the public debt service spending target by UAH 21.6 billion.

The strengthening of the national currency was reported to have reduced the total amount of public and publicly guaranteed debt by more than UAH 100 billion, but at the same time, it led to the non-receipt of UAH 20.7 billion in state budget revenues in the first nine months of 2019.

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