Ukraine budget revenue rises 2.2% yoy in May
3 June 2014
Ukraine’s state budget collections rose 2.2% yoy in May, slowing down from 42.4% yoy in the prior month, according to a June 2 Treasury report. For 5M14, budget revenue reached UAH 150.5 bln, which is 11.2% more than the same year ago period. VAT reimbursement for exporters was reported at UAH 4.9 bln in May, which is 6.6% less than the same year-ago month.
Alexander Paraschiy: Though the May revenue increase was quite modest, it’s a very positive signal. Recall, until April authorities had been fulfilling their revenue plan only due to advance wires from the national bank. As of May, this practice was stopped to meet IMF commitments. Falling budget revenue was expected – but it did not happen.
In fact, already in April VAT collections were reported 16.7% higher than the same year-ago month. These might be the first signals that tax reforms approved in April and the fight against tax evasion have started working. In this context, we remain optimistic regarding the official revenue target, which presumes a 10.0% yoy increase this year.
