The Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food intends to initiate the reopening of the negotiation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the issue of preservation of the value-added tax (VAT) exemptions for farmers. Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Oleksii Pavlenko announced this at the 5th All-Ukrainian Agrarian Forum in Kiev on Thursday, 9 July, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.
"We are jointly initiating reopening of conversations and discussions with the IMF. We are ready - and we have stated this publicly - to prove again and again what damages may occur, which system should work, and what will be its effect later," said the minister.
According to him, the Ukrainian government’s memorandum with the IMF is contrary to the coalition agreement, which provides for preservation of VAT breaks for farmers until 2018.
As reported earlier, the memorandum between the Cabinet of Ministers and the IMF stipulates that the government should prepare a draft law on repeal of the tax breaks for farmers by September 2015.
The largest agricultural associations have repeatedly opposed such measures, citing the drop in agricultural production and the drop in budget revenues due to the fall in agricultural exports.
