Ukraine budget revenue rises 5% yoy in 11M20

Ukraine’s state budget revenue rose 5.0% yoy to UAH
945 bln in 11M20 and fulfilled its plan, the State Treasury provisionally
reported on Dec. 1. Net tax revenue jumped 15.1% yoy to UAH 473 bln (9.6% above
plan) amid 8.8% yoy growth in gross tax revenue and a 9.4% yoy fall in VAT
reimbursement. Customs revenue dropped 8.7% yoy to UAH 264 bln (11.6% below
plan).

Local budgets’ fiscal revenue improved 4.7% yoy to UAH
269 bln in 11M20, which is 2.7% below plan. Social payments (pension and other
social fund contributions paid by employers) advanced 6.7% yoy to UAH 262 bln.

In November alone, state budget revenue increased
15.2% yoy to UAH 102 bln, which is 9.3% above plan. Net tax revenue advanced
3.4% to 53 bln (11.6% above plan) amid 4.8% yoy growth in gross tax revenue and
10.9% yoy growth in VAT reimbursement. Customs revenue jumped 12.4% yoy to UAH
30.0 bln (0.2% above plan).

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: We had expected that budget revenue will reach plan in 2020. (LINK?)
In November, growth of gross tax collection slowed. This is likely to be the
result of the slackening of recent government efforts to fight pervasive
corruption schemes with VAT reimbursement (the so-called “skrutka”). In its
place, the unexpected jump in customs revenue in November is likely to mean
that customs became a new “point of leverage” in budget collections. That said,
this improvement looks more like the result of fixing and tuning collections at
their location rather than the consistent efforts in reforming tax
administration, reducing the shadow economy and fighting corruption.