OREANDA-NEWS. The Ukrainian government has introduced special duties on imports of diesel fuel and liquefied gas from Russia. This was announced on Thursday by the representative of the President of Ukraine in the Cabinet of Ministers Andrei Gerus on Facebook. "Yesterday, the cabinet adopted a resolution that introduced a special duty on imports from the Russian Federation of diesel fuel pipeline transport and liquefied gas", he said. Gerus noted that such a joint decision of the president and the government was made in response to the expansion of Russian economic sanctions.

The representative of the President said that the special duty on diesel fuel supplied by pipelines will be 3.75% from August 1, 2019 and 4% from October 1, 2019. The special duty on the supply of liquefied gas will be 1.75% from August 1 and 3% from October 1. “The duty will remove the supermarket margin of the trader-importer, which arose due to logistics diesel pipeline and other factors. If the typical market margin in large wholesale is $ 10- $ 12 per ton, then on pipeline deliveries such margin was $ 35- $ 40 per ton” - said Gerus.

The delegate of Zelensky concluded that the Ukrainian budget will receive an additional about 2 billion hryvnia (about $ 77 million) per year due to the introduction of special duties. In his opinion, these funds should be directed to expanding the program of subsidies and supporting low-income segments of the population. Gerus said that at present there is an excess of resources on the country's oil products market and that there are grounds for some reduction in retail prices.

From January 1, 2016, in connection with the entry into force of the economic part of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, Russia, to protect the country's economic interests, suspended the agreement on a free trade zone with Ukraine.