“The National Bank of Ukraine opposes the initiative to increase the income tax for banks to 50% for the second year in a row.”, — write: www.ukrinform.ua
The first deputy head of the National Bank, Kateryna Rozhkova, reported this in an interview with Forbes Ukraine, reports Ukrinform.
According to Rozhkova, the introduction of a bank profit tax of up to 50% may lead to problems with the capital of two state-owned banks, which will require billions of budget expenditures for their recapitalization.
The first deputy stressed that the banking system is able to provide the necessary amount to finance the budget deficit without increasing the military levy from 1.5% to 5%.
“The banking system is able to provide the need for internal budget financing of UAH 385 billion by the end of the year due to the placement of liquidity in the OVDP,” she noted.
Read also: Ukraine’s GDP grew by 3.5% in August – Ministry of Economy Rozhkova noted that in order to further lend to the economy, invest in government bonds and overcome the challenges associated with the war, banks need to maintain a sufficient level of capital, so the repeated tax increase will have a minor impact on budget revenues, but may lead to significant risks for the banking sector .
As reported by Ukrinform, on September 17, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada supported the introduction of a 50% tax on bank profits in the first reading. Danylo Hetmantsev, head of the financial committee of the Verkhovna Rada, believes that the “retroactive” decision is justified by an exceptional situation.