Starting January 1, 2024, zero export tax rates will apply to crude oil and petroleum products in Belarus. writes about this TASS With reference to the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Republic.
Since 2010, Belarus has been combining export tax rates on oil and petroleum products with those in force in Russia. Minsk does this taking into account duty-free oil imports from Moscow. According to agreements within the scope of the Eurasian Economic Union, all export taxes on oil and oil products have remained in the Belarusian budget since 2015.
In 2018, Russia decided to implement a tax maneuver that would gradually reduce the oil export tax from 30 percent in 2019 to zero in 2024, while also increasing the tax on mineral extraction. At the same time, raw material prices are also increasing. Russia compensated oil refineries for losses resulting from this decision, but Belarusian refineries did not receive such compensation. Therefore, re-export of oil products became unprofitable for Minsk.
In July 2021, St. In St. Petersburg, the presidents of Russia and Belarus, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, agreed that Moscow should pay compensation to Minsk for its tax maneuver. Belarusian Finance Minister Yuri Seliverstov said in November 2023 that Minsk plans to receive a total of 1.3 billion rubles in compensation from Moscow by the end of 2023. Before that, the minister estimated the amount of tax maneuver compensation for 2024 at 2.1 billion rubles.
Brent oil prices had previously reached a record level fallen since the coronavirus outbreak.