The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is planning to publish in late September 2014 its proposal on reforming value-added tax (VAT) in the agricultural sector. This is stated in the text of a renewed memorandum between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “Following discussion in the government and with the private sector, we’ll prepare by the end of September 2014 our proposal on VAT reform in the agriculture for bringing the agricultural VAT administration closer to the common VAT regime. After consultations with producers, we’ll reduce agricultural VAT benefits in 2015,” reads the document.

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In August 2014 the inflation rate in Belarus was running at 0.8% in comparison with July 2014, BelTA learned from the National Statistics Committee of Belarus. In August the index of consumer prices for goods and services stood at 100.8% as against July 2014 and 112% as against December 2013, the National Statistics Committee of Belarus informed. The inflation in August was 0.1% lower than in July that stood at 0.9%.

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Russia’s Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev, the European Commissioner for Trade Karel de Guсht and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin will have a trilateral meeting in Brussels to discuss the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development press service reported Wednesday. “The participants will discuss the possibility of changes to be made in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in order to minimize the earlier identified risks for the Russian Federation from the agreement implementation,” the statement says.

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The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and the local production and milling industry once again came to an agreement on grain export management for the new marketing year. The Memorandum of Understanding is being signed by the Minister and the major industry organizations. Exports of grain are not to be restricted unless the necessary amount of domestic supplies are deemed insufficient, thus indicating a food security risk to the country.

UkrAgroConsult based on data from BelTA, RIA Novosti, TheCropSite