Ukraine 7M18 state budget revenue rises 15% yoy, below plan

Ukraine’s 7M18 state budget revenue rose 14.7% yoy to
UAH 513.5 bln, which is 3.0% below plan, the State Treasury provisionally
reported on Aug 1. Net tax revenue jumped 13.3% yoy to UAH 216.0 bln (1.1% above
plan), while  customs revenue rose 10.0% yoy to UAH 179.2 bln (2.7% below
plan).

In July alone, net tax revenue surged 37.0% to UAH
25.8 bln, which is 1.7% above plan. Meanwhile, customs revenue picked up 17.7%
yoy to UAH 29.1 bln, which is 0.2% above plan.

Local budgets’ 7M18 revenue increased 15.6% yoy to UAH
132.5 bln, outperforming plan by 1.7%. Social payments (personal income tax and
pension fund contributions paid by employers) jumped 27.5% yoy to UAH 126.8
bln.

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: Customs
revenue continues to show significant month-to-month swings, confirming our suspicion of
the “tightening the screws” tactic being employed.

Meanwhile, permanent improvement in automated customs
collection is impossible without systemic elimination of widespread corruption
in this state structure. That said, budget revenue is likely to meet the annual
plan due to outperformance of tax collections.