Heavy industry has a significant impact on the general state of any country’s economy. DPR Minister for Revenue and Duties Evgeny Lavrenov commented on this important area of economic activity of the Republic in an interview with a correspondent of the DPR Official Website.
“Our trade balance improved in 2019, and mechanic engineering has the lead among the flagship industries in exports from the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic. As for the coal industry, it was in the worst condition almost the whole year due to a downfall in the price. Many largest Russian producers shut down. Given the catastrophic deficit for the coal sold, it still was necessary to maintain the mines. We resumed coal exports only in late 2019.
In October and November last year, our coke and chemical enterprises exported almost nothing either. This had a negative impact on coking mines in the Republic. It was only in January that the export of coking products improved and money started to flow. In 2019, the colliers underpaid more than one and a half billion rubles to the budget.
So, maybe there is no need to form taxes in such conditions, which then turn out up in the air? Maybe we should introduce tax relief for this industry? That is, what is important for us is the unified social tax, which ensures pensions and income tax. These are really necessary. We will submit a proposal to the DPR Government’s consideration to introduce a tax concession to support this industry,” Evgeny Lavrenov said.
The DPR Minister for Revenue and Duties also shared his views on the development of mechanic engineering, and as an example, he singled out the experience of China, which is of interest to mechanic engineers of our Republic.