First Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Denys Kudin explained on the air of the telethon "United News" why the government decided to partially restore the excise tax right now.
"We believe that the moment for this step is appropriate, as the fuel market in Ukraine has seen a downward price trend. Therefore, we hope that gas station networks will be able to factor the tax into the current price without raising it. We do not forecast an increase in petroleum products in the near future", he noted.
According to him, the restoration of the excise tax adds UAH 3.5–4 to the cost of a liter of fuel. At the same time, the price of oil has fallen from $120 to $88 per barrel over the past three months.
"This is a fairly significant drop. The global economy has faced high inflation, largely caused by the rise in energy prices. The governments of large countries have paid attention to this and began to look for ways to reduce costs. In a market economy, there is only one mechanism for this — increasing supply. That is why, after Saudi Arabia's statements about plans to increase production, world quotations went down", the official explained.
This factor, as he believes, gives reason to expect a decrease in the cost of fuel production. An additional factor is the stability of the national currency, which, after updating the fixed exchange rate at the beginning of summer, remains at the previous level. Provided the fixed exchange rate is maintained, no price fluctuations are expected. Kudin also assured that no fuel shortage in the retail segment is expected in the near future.
