Page 37 - UKRRptMay21

The budget revenue advanced significantly in March amid a surge in net VAT collections. The growth of budget expenditures slowed down amid the rising difficulties with budget deficit financing. As a result, the budget deficit shrank in March.
We don’t expect the budget deficit to enlarge significantly in April. It's most likely that public expenditures have been curbed, as the situation with raising more debt for budget gap financing was difficult for most of the month.
Ukraine's state budget revenue provisionally rose 19.2% y/y to UAH251.5bn in 1Q21, outperforming the plan by 5.7%, the State Treasury reported on Apr. 1. Net tax revenue increased 16.1% y/y to UAH128.7bn (6.2% above the plan) amid 10.6% y/y growth in gross tax revenue and a 4.8% y/y decline in VAT reimbursement. Customs revenue jumped 27.8% y/y to UAH83.4bn (3.7% above the plan).
Local budgets' fiscal revenue improved 11.5% y/y to UAH77.3bn in 1Q21, which is 1.4% below the plan. Social payments (pensions and other social fund contributions paid by employers) advanced 10.4% y/y to UAH76.6bn.
In March alone, the state budget revenue increased 22.4% y/y to UAH108.0bn, which is 8.0% above the plan. Net tax revenue advanced 12.3% y/y to UAH57.7bn (5.4% above the plan) amid a 12.5% y/y growth in gross tax revenue and a 13.5% y/y increase in VAT reimbursement. Customs revenue surged 39.9% y/y to UAH34.4bn (8.6% above the plan).
Tax revenue picked up significantly in March even amid increasing VAT reimbursements to exporters. The growth of customs revenue is still impressive. Meanwhile, the performance of local budgets is not keeping up with the State Treasury’s plan, and this might provide a more realistic picture of Ukraine’s public finances as local authorities usually have fewer resources to find “compensators” for underperforming tax payers.
Revenues of the state budget of Ukraine in March 2021 amounted to UAH 108 billion, which is 8% more than the planned figure and 22.4% more than last year's level, according to the data of the State Treasury Service.
According to the information released, the general budget fund received UAH 94.8 billion in March, which is 5.7% more than the plan and 21% more than in March 2020.
As for the indicators of budget revenues for January-March, they were exceeded in 2021 by 5.7% of the plan and by 19.2% higher than last year's level for the same period. In general, over the three months of this year, the state budget received almost UAH 251.5 billion, including UAH 219.7 billion for the general fund, which is 4.7% higher than the plan and 19.9% more than in January-March 2020.
Customs in March this year brought almost UAH 34.3 billion, which is 8.6% more than the expected figure and 39.9% higher than in the same month last year. In January-March of this year, customs revenues amounted to UAH 83.4 billion, which is 3.7% higher than the indicative of the Ministry of Finance and by 27.8% - last year's level.
Tax revenues in March brought to the budget UAH 57.6 billion, this amount is 5.4% more than the planned level and 12.3% more than last year.
37 UKRAINE Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com