Ukraine budget revenue grows 21% in January

Ukraine’s general
budget revenue grew 21.0% yoy to UAH 88.0 bln in January, slowing from a 28.3%
yoy jump in December, the State Treasury reported Feb. 26. General budget
expenditures increased 6.6% yoy to UAH 80.9 bln, slowing from 44.3% yoy surge
in December. General budget surplus amounted to UAH 6.7 bln (vs. a deficit of
UAH 129.0 in December).

Tax revenue
increased 25.9% yoy to UAH 81.6 bln, slowing from 43.1% yoy surge in December.
In particular, net VAT revenue surged 136.0% yoy (vs. 44.7% yoy growth in
December), as VAT gross revenue climbed 17.7% yoy and VAT reimbursement dropped
27.8% yoy. Personal income tax revenue increased 8.6% yoy (vs. 13.9% yoy growth
in December). Resource royalty payments increased 162.4% yoy (after increasing
four times year-on-year in December). At the same time, enterprise profit tax
plummeted 67.8% yoy (after jumping 122.2% yoy in December).

Non-tax revenue
dropped 17.8% yoy to UAH 6.2 bln in January (after declining 32.6% yoy). In
particular, the revenues of budget-financed entities declined 19.9% yoy, and
other non-tax revenue dropped 35.6% yoy. At the same time, income from
ownership and entrepreneurial activities advanced 12.8% yoy.

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: The decrease in VAT reimbursement
to exporters and the surge in resource royalty payments helped maintain the
high budget revenue growth in January. At the same time, the growth of personal
income tax revenue weakened, while enterprise profit tax collections
demonstrated usual swings. The decline in revenue of budget-financed entities
was likely due to the nationwide quarantine held Jan. 8-24.

Budget expenditures in the beginning of the year are traditionally
modest, so the budget surplus is not a surprise.