On October 5, the conference “South of Ukraine – business priorities” ended in Odesa. The event was held on the initiative of the Ukrainian Business Council, the National Bank of Ukraine and the City Council of ZahistyFOP with the partner support of the Center for International Private Entrepreneurship (CIPE). The dialogue with business took place with the participation of representatives of the Odesa and Kherson regional military administrations, the Odesa city hall.
At the conference, the urgent problems faced by the business of the southern regions suffering from Russian military aggression, the priorities of the business of the south of Ukraine, which the Verkhovna Rada and the Government should take into account for the next year 2024, were discussed.
In particular, the participants of the meeting raised the following issues:
- the need to liberalize currency legislation;
- reducing tax pressure on businesses trying to operate in wartime conditions;
- speeding up the launch of the compensation mechanism for losses due to hostilities;
small and medium business insurance, etc. - During the period of martial law, provide an analytical means of control without mandatory importation into the customs territory.
- Limited human resource, complicated logistics, lack of state order
- Limited access to state financial resources, in particular regarding participation in the state program “5/7/9” and grant programs
- The number of inspections of business entities.
- Lack of working capital – high interest rates of credit resources and other sources of financing and excessively harsh conditions for access to bank loans, availability and excessive requirements for collateral.
- Adoption by the customs of Decisions on the adjustment of the customs value of goods towards an increase and the delay of tax registration invoices
The conference participants also analyzed the state of implementation of the TOP-10 priorities of Ukrainian business, which were formed in 2022 for the current year. Oleg Hetman, economist and analyst of the Economic Expert Platform, noted that the authorities partially or fully implemented only 20% of the TOP-10 items of Ukrainian business priorities. In particular, it is about the implementation of more effective mechanisms for compensation for lost property to citizens, reforming the judicial system, transparent privatization, etc. Oleg Hetman named the establishment of an inclusive dialogue between the government and business and the reform of the tax and customs systems as among the unrealized.
Oleg Hetman also focused on the steps taken to demopolize the economy and reduce the influence of the state on it. In particular, he reminded that from 2021, the Parliament has draft law No. 5734 on the market of payment services, which provides for a reduction in the interchange fee from 1.0-1.1% to the European 0.2-0.3%.
“According to them, acquiring will increase – somewhere by 0.8-0.9%. Less is impossible, because less does not even exist in Europe,” the expert noted and called to more actively demand the adoption of this draft law.
“It is already better, but it can be done even better. Let’s work together to push for the adoption of draft law No. 5734. It will reduce the interchange to 0.2%, acquiring for entrepreneurs will accordingly be somewhere within 0.8%,” Oleg Getman added.
Among other things, the participants of the conference raised the issue of resuming tax audits, subject to compliance with the rules for conducting them (draft law No. 10016). In particular, it is suggested that the existing risks of non-payment of taxes or violations of tax legislation be known to the business through the payer’s office in advance – before the start of the audit, and not during it.
Business also suggests that the government approve a list of risks on which the tax office should update information every month.
Also, businessmen representing the Kherson region consider it expedient to introduce tax holidays in the de-occupied territories until the end of hostilities and plus one more year. Proposals were made regarding the need to postpone special customs points for the duration of the war, which should be operational already in November of this year, to improve the mechanism of providing armor against mobilization to key workers, etc.
Summarizing the meeting, the president of the All-Ukrainian Professional Association of Entrepreneurs, Borys Emeldesh, assured that these and other proposals from the business of the south of the country will be voiced at the Forum “Dialogue of civil society, business and government: Course for the Restoration of Ukraine”, scheduled for October 9, 2023 in Kyiv.