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Minsk, Moscow to return to issue of compensations for tax maneuver, says Lukashenko

The tax maneuver in Russia’s oil sector has resulted in a decrease in the income from export customs duties on petroleum products, the President of Belarus noted

© Maxim Slutsky/TASS

MINSK, September 16. /TASS/. Minsk and Moscow will get back to the issue of compensations for losses related to Russia’s tax maneuver in the oil sector, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Belarus Yuri Senko on Monday.

"I think that we will have to get back to that issue as well in the near future when approving the program of joint efforts," the BelTA news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying.

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The tax maneuver in Russia’s oil sector has resulted in a decrease in the income from export customs duties on petroleum products, the President noted.

Belarus and Russia are currently negotiating relevant issues of bilateral cooperation. The oil maneuver in Russia’s oil sector is one of the disagreements. Belarus insists on compensations for losses from deteriorating terms of oil sales, whereas Russia suggests that integration should be deepened in accordance with the Treaty on the Creation of a Union State of Russia and Belarus signed in 1999. According to the Belarusian Finance Ministry, budget losses from implementation of Russia’s tax maneuver will exceed $300 mln in 2019 with the oil price of $70 per barrel, and around $10 bln within six years.

The completion of the tax maneuver in Russia’s oil sector started in January 1, 2019. Within that mechanism, the export duty will be slashed to zero by 2024, while concurrently the mineral extraction tax will be increased.

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