Minsk will receive additional funds from Russia for the tax maneuver. A reverse excise tax will be specifically introduced for Belarusian refineries, RBC informs.
The tax maneuver in Russia suggests that the Russian refineries will be allocated negative excise taxes from the country’s budget. It is assumed that since 2024 the refineries will receive an average of about 4 thousand Russian rubles per ton of oil (about $64). It is assumed that a similar scheme will work for refineries in Belarus. Belarusian enterprises will be able to receive compensation, just like the Russian ones, provided that Belarus and Russia unify the Tax Code within the framework of deeper integration and the documents will be signed by the heads of state.
The amount that Belarus will receive as a result has not yet been announced. But if the scheme is similar to the Russian one, Minsk will receive about $1.5 billion annually for 24 million tons of oil, supplied by Russia to Belarus.
Now Belarus is buying Russian oil at a price of about 75% of the world oil price. In 2015, Russia launched a tax maneuver in the oil sector: the export duty on oil in Russia will be reduced from 30% to 0% to 2024. At the same time, the fossil fuels extraction tax will be raised, which may lead to an increase in the input price of oil for Belarus up to the world level. Already this year, as a result of the tax maneuver, Belarus estimates its losses at the level of $ 383 million at the price of $ 70 per barrel. Within six years, the total loss for Belarus may amount to about $11 billion.
At the same time, the gas issue remains unresolved. The existing agreement on the supply of blue fuel to our country will end at the end of this year. Minsk insists on equal terms and demands that gas prices be at the level of Smolensk prices plus transportation. Now Belarus receives gas from Russia for $127 per thousand cubic meters.
