If the war continues, Ukraine will have to consider a scenario with the introduction of additional fiscal measures.
International support for Ukraine will gradually decrease. Therefore, Kyiv should focus on strengthening its ability to collect both tax and customs revenues. The head of the IMF mission, Gavin Gray, stated this in an interview with NV Business.
According to him, by the end of this year the Ukrainian authorities plan to launch the so-called National Revenue Strategy.
“Everyone understands: over time and gradually, international support for Ukraine will decrease, so Ukraine needs to develop its own internal resources for self-financing,” Gray said.
The head of the IMF mission noted that this should be taken into account, because after the end of the war the need to finance social spending will increase. “Therefore, the authorities need to focus on strengthening their ability to collect revenue – both tax and customs,” he added.
Gray recalled that the IMF developed an extended financing program with Ukraine taking into account the main scenario, which assumes the end of the war in mid-2024.
“But we also see a more negative scenario with a longer war and, accordingly, a larger volume of external financing,” said a representative of the fund.
“International financial aid should increase under the conditions of the negative scenario. If the base scenario is implemented, we talked about $115 billion, and the negative scenario – $140 billion,” he added.
Commenting on the possibility of adopting a bill that would introduce a tax on excess profits of banks in Ukraine, Gray noted that such a rule could only be introduced temporarily and considered the consequences for the banking system.
The head of the IMF mission also noted the need to continue the tax audit. But he applauded the abolition of the simplified 2 percent tax regime that had been in place since the start of the war.
“This is important from the point of view of the fiscal side and strengthening of public administration,” he said.
Let’s recall that in March the IMF approved a four-year financing package for Ukraine worth $15.6 billion. In total, this year Ukraine has the opportunity to receive three tranches from the fund totaling $4.5 billion. On July 3, it was reported that Ukraine received $890 million from the IMF. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities must implement a number of structural beacons to continue funding.
Source: korrespondent
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