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Eastern Europe
April 19, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
envisages a gradual reduction in the rate of export duty on oil and petroleum products from 30%
to zero in the period from 2019 to 2024 and
a proportionate increase in mineral extraction tax on oil production.
According to the Belarusian finance ministry, the country’s budget revenue losses from the tax ma- noeuvre in 2019 alone were estimated at BYN600mn ($300mn), and that the losses might total $2bn by the end of 2024.
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New Ukraine survey confirms Zelenskiy heading for landslide victory in second round
Of the total number of respondents who are go- ing to vote in the second round of the Ukrainian presidential election on April 21 (and have already decided on a candidate), 72.2% said they would vote for Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comic and a close associate of the controversial oligarch Ihor Kolo- moisky, according to results of a survey conducted by the well respected Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) from April 9 to April 14.
Only 25.4% of respondents are going to support President Petro Poroshenko, while 2.4% of respondents in this group said they would spoil the ballot.
Eight out of ten (81.8%) of the respondents who are going to vote for Zelenskiy are sure of their choice, 12.8% are more likely to support him, and 4% simply considered him as an option and may vote for him. Some 75.7% of Poroshenko's voters are sure of their choice, 22% are more likely to support him, and 1.8% view him as an option, news agency Interfax reported on April 16.
The survey is based on personal interviews with 2,004 persons in 129 towns and cities across Ukraine, except Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014, took part using a three-level stochastic sample representative of the population of Ukraine aged 18 and older. The survey was conducted only in the territory that is controlled by the Ukrainian au- thorities in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
The margin of error does not exceed: 3.3% for figures close to 50%, 2.8% for those close to 25%, 2.0% for those close to 10%, 1.4% for those close to 5%.
Meanwhile, on April 16, a group of Ukrainian respectable media outlets and journalists appealed to Zelenskiy, who has mainly avoided direct contact with reporters over the past months, to attend
a press conference no later than on April 18.
"We urge you not to pursue negative practices
of ignoring media demands, which have unfortunately also taken place during the past five years, and hold a press conference for the media before the official date of debates [no later than on April 18] in order to ensure the dialogue with media representatives in particular and with the Ukrainians in general," their statement reads.
Zelenskiy has also avoided a face-to-face debate with Poroshenko. On April 14, Poroshenko was forced to communicate with journalists and his supporters at the national Olympic stadium in Kyiv due to the fact that his rival refused to take part in what should be the first face-to-face debates be- tween candidates. Poroshenko was left to debate an empty lectern after the two candidates could not agree on a date to meet: Zelenskiy had offered April 19, but Poroshenko insisted on April 14.
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