Govt submits to parliament bill on amendments to Budget Code due to deal with USA
The Cabinet of Ministers has submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law on amendments to the Budget Code regarding the implementation of the intergovernmental agreement on the creation of the US-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund.
The draft law has already been registered in the parliament (No. 13256), according to information on its website, but the text of the document itself is not yet available.
According to Yaroslav Zhelezniak, the first deputy chairman of the committee on finance, taxation and customs policy, the draft law provides for the introduction of a mechanism for transferring income from the use of natural resources to a special fund of the state budget of Ukraine for further allocation to the US-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund.
Sources of income: 50% of the fee for special permits for the use of subsoil; funds from the sale of special permits and income from the sale of part of the state-owned products, as well as other income from the exploitation of natural resources stipulated by the agreement, he wrote on Telegram.
He added that the document also stipulates restrictions: income from licenses issued before the entry into force of the agreement is not included, unless it is a new exploitation, and income from assets related to royalties or reparations from the Russian Federation is not taken into account.
According to the draft law, the relevant income is transferred to the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, their target area is infrastructure restoration projects related to post-war reconstruction.
As reported, the day before, the government submitted the agreement itself, signed on April 30 in Washington, to the Verkhovna Rada for ratification. It is expected that the parliament will vote on this issue on May 8.
Earlier, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko, who signed this agreement on the Ukrainian side, noted that after the ratification of the agreement, only amendments to the Budget Code are provided for the functioning of the fund.
"Ukraine contributes 50% of state budget revenues from NEW royalty for NEW licenses for NEW deposits," the First Deputy Prime Minister explained.
At the same time, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak (the Holos faction) believes that the implementation of the fund agreement with the US will require other changes to the legislation.