Ukraine to fail to fulfil an IMF structural benchmarks in time, MP says

Ukraine’s parliament will not pass a law lifting tax reliefs from July, which the International Monetary Fund has required Kyiv to do as part of the latest four-year loan agreement, an MP said Monday.

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According to Yarosla Zhelezniak, a member of Verkhovna Rada’s tax committee, the MPs will not vote for the return to the pre-war tax regime, as planned in the memorandum of economic and financial policy between Ukraine and the IMF.

"Cancellation of the 2-percent single tax, cancellation of the tax exemption for [sole proprietorships] of the 1st and 2nd groups, resumption of documentary inspections, return of penalties for violations of the use of cash registers – all that will not happen from 1 July," Mr Zhelezniak posted on Facebook.

"I don't know what the new date of the event is, but it's definitely not 1 July."

The bill providing for the return of the pre-war tax regime passed the first reading on 29 May. While the parliament did convene over the weekend, it did not debate the draft law.

The return of pre-war taxes is one of Ukraine’s obligations under the memorandum with the IMF, or the so-called structural benchmark.

In late March, the IMF Executive Board approved a four-year loan to Ukraine of USD 15.6 billion in the form of Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

The Fund's mission in Ukraine started working in late May.