Ukraine 1H18 state budget revenue rises 14% yoy, below plan

Ukraine’s 1H18 state budget revenue rose 13.7% yoy to
UAH 394.9 bln, which is 3.1% below plan, the State Treasury provisionally reported
on July 2. Net tax revenue improved 17.2% yoy to UAH 190.2 bln (1% above plan),
while  customs revenue rose 18.7% yoy to UAH 150.1 bln (3.3% below plan).

In June alone, net tax revenue jumped 24.2% to UAH
27.7 bln, which is 8.7% above plan. Meanwhile, customs revenue climbed 4.2% yoy
to UAH 24.4 bln, which is 5.7% below plan.

Local budgets’ 1H18 revenue increased 16.4% yoy to UAH
112.7 bln, outperforming plan by 1.0%. Social payments (personal income tax and
pension fund contributions paid by employers) jumped 27.8% yoy to UAH 107.7
bln.

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: The improvement in May customs revenue proved short-lived as they cooled off in June,
keeping overall budget collections below plan. The chronic underperformance of
customs in revenue collection is likely to be the result of notorious
corruption in this realm. Methods of “tightening the screws” only bring
temporary results, while systemic reforms can stimulate a long-term effect.