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Protectionism Against The Economy

30 March, 00:00

Light industry was last week's hit. The President himself came to its defense by imposing a fixed tax and special labeling requirements for imported goods. The Ministry of Industrial Policy, champion not only of industry but also of the state budget, promptly calculated that the implementation of such protective measures in the sectors having short capital turnover periods "will make it possible to expect their annual production growth at up to Hr 16 billion, which in its turn, will make it possible to bring Hr 3 billion to the budget in taxes". Interestingly, last year the volume of production of marketable goods by light industry enterprises was Hr 1.17 billion (that is, 2.5 times less, than the expected tax revenues).

Thus it is not ruled out that today as the latest move to defend domestic producers we are in for another round of protectionism and pressure on importers, including, including individuals supplying light industry products to the Ukrainian market. However, experts in the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade believe that intensified state regulation will make this market flee into the shadows. This dubious benefit will, of course, impact on customers, especially, the solvent ones, who are now accustomed to dress up, say, from Pierre Cardin. The experience of neighboring Belarus, whose government has been taking similar measures, shows that they fail to bring about any positive results at all.

The topic is continued in the Economy/Finance section (page 5).

Newspaper output №:

№12, (1999)

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