Ukraine 1Q18 budget revenue falls 6% below plan

Ukraine’s 1Q18 state budget revenue increased 6.6% yoy
to UAH 187.7 bln, which is 6.0% below plan, the State Treasury reported on
March 30. Net tax revenue fell 6.7% yoy to UAH 89.6 bln due to substantial VAT
reimbursement of  UAH 33.6 bln (83.5% yoy growth) amid modest growth in
tax revenue (7.7% yoy to  UAH 123.3 bln). Custom revenue rose 12.8% yoy to
UAH 73.4 bln.

In March, tax revenue increased 49.3% yoy to UAH 52.5
bln, while net tax revenue grew 25.3%, which is 4.2% above plan. At the same
time, custom revenue dropped 3.9% yoy to UAH 23.7 bln, which is 5.7% below
plan.

Local 1Q18 budget revenue fell below plan by 2.6%
despite impressive  growth of  24.0% yoy to UAH 51.6 bln. Social
payments (personal income tax and pension fund contributions paid by employers)
jumped 31.2% yoy to UAH 48.4 bln.

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: Budget collections did not show significant improvement in March. A
better situation with tax collection was blemished by weak customs results. On
the bright side, the government continued to fulfill its obligations on VAT
reimbursement to exporters despite the adverse effect of reimbursement on
overall budget performance.