As a result of the blockade of the Ukrainian-Polish border, 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 Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy.
“Undoubtedly, this is a powerful blow to our economy and our exports. We have a 40% reduction in exports through the relevant land crossing points. We have a statement from carriers about losses of EUR 400 million 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,” the MP said.
According to him, today there is a 19% shortfall in the customs plan, although there was an overfulfillment in October.
“The governments of these countries (where carriers block the border) 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 causing the latter to 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. (Ukrinform/Business World Magazine)