Ukraine’s customs revenues fell by 9.2 billion hryvnias in November due to the blockade of borders by Poland and Slovakia

The money inflow to Ukraine from customs dropped by 9.2 billion hryvnias (almost 232 million euros) in November due to the blockade of border crossings from Poland and Slovakia.

This was announced by the head of the financial committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Daniil Hetmantsev.

“Unfortunately, we have distressing customs results: a minus of 9.2 billion hryvnias for November and, correspondingly, a minus of 19% to the plan. What does this indicate and what is the reason? The reason is the blockage of crossings, the blockage of borders, resorted to by the Slovaks, resorted to by the Poles. This is the real cost, the real monetary indicator of this unfriendly behavior (I don’t want to say the word ‘diversion’) that some citizens of friendly countries are displaying towards our business. These are specific figures that do not reach our budget. And you know, everything that comes into our budget in the form of taxes, it all goes to security, defense, the army and nowhere else. This means direct underfunding of our army due to such unfriendly actions,” stated the head of the financial committee.

Hetmantsev acknowledges that when the situation at Ukraine’s borders is resolved, it might be possible to “recover” the inflow of funds from customs in the future. However, the official referred to the behavior of carriers from Poland and Slovakia as a “very serious problem, a painful blow that we did not expect.”

Earlier, the government reported that Ukrainian exports through Poland plummeted by 40% in November.

It was also reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are facing a fuel shortage due to the blockade of the Polish border.