As a result of protesters blocking the border with Ukraine, exports through these checkpoints decreased by 40%, and the state budget of Ukraine lost UAH 9.3 billion due to a shortfall in customs payments.
This was stated by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev on the air of the telethon “United News”,Espresso.Zakhid reports.
“Undoubtedly, this is a powerful blow to our economy and our exports… We have a 40% decrease in exports through the relevant land crossing points. We have a statement from carriers about losses of 400 million euros in the first two weeks of this blockade alone… As for the budget, based on the results of November, we can clearly determine that the budget lost UAH 9.3 billion from the shortfall in customs payments. This is a huge amount of money that the army has not received and which we desperately need today,” Hetmantsev said.
According to him, the customs service is currently underperforming its plan by 19%. This is despite the fact that in October there was an overfulfillment.
“The governments of these countries (where carriers are blocking the border – Ed.) should not wait until the situation becomes critical. They must realize that this situation is hurting them. By weakening Ukraine, they are strengthening our common enemy and making it hit their own economies harder. Given that the blockade is being carried out by marginal political forces that do not represent the majority in these countries, I am convinced that against this background, we should not play politics, but rather implement the European law that allows free movement of vehicles across the EU,” the head of the parliamentary committee emphasized.
