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Belarus said to have paid almost $2.9 billion in export duties on petroleum products to Russia in first 10 months of 2013

 

The amount that Belarus transferred in the first 10 months of 2013 into Russia’s treasury in export duties on petroleum products made from Russian crude oil totaled $2,885.5 million against 3.8 billion last year and $3.07 billion in 2011, according to government data.

Belarus reportedly transferred $225.2 million in October, $183.8 million in September, $262.3 million in August, $301.1 million in July, $246 million in June, $286.2 million in May, $301.7 million in April, $414.8 million in March, $321.9 million in February and $342.4 million in January.

Since 2011, Russian oil exports to Belarus have not been liable to duty, but if petroleum products made from Russian oil are exported outside the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, Belarus is required to repay the amount it collects in export duties to Russia.

The decrease in Belarus’ export duty payments to Russia in the second half of 2013 was due to a fall in petroleum product exports, which totaled 0.78 million metric tons in September, 1.12 million tons in August and 1.27 million tons in July.

Last year Russian officials repeatedly expressed concern about a dramatic increase in the export of solvents and diluents from Belarus, saying that Belarus might be exporting diesel fuel disguised as solvents, diluents and lubricants in order to avoid repaying the export duties to Russia.

While speaking to reporters on October 11, Alykasandr Lukashenka claimed that Belarus had to annually pay about $4 billion to Russia in export duties on petroleum products. “If the money had stayed in the country, I would have already built an Emirates here," he said.

Mr. Lukashenka noted that the Russian president had promised that Belarus would no longer be required to transfer the duties from January 1, 2014.

Russia is ready to gradually remove all exceptions from the Customs Union`s free trade regime, Vladimir Putin told reporters in Minsk in late October following a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council.

The presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia have agreed to eliminate all barriers to the free movement of goods, services, capital, technologies and labor, Mr. Putin said.

Speaking about restrictions on trade in crude oil and petroleum products, Mr. Putin said that Russia understood the concern of Belarus and Kazakhstan and was ready to scrap the exceptions even though that would mean revenue losses for Russia. "We hope that our partners will also accommodate us, removing the exceptions they consider important," Mr. Putin said. //BelaPAN