The debt owed by the State Fiscal Service to Metinvest international vertically integrated mining and metal group for value added tax (VAT) refunds for exported products reached 3.5 billion UAH and exceeds the defaulted debts of the holding to foreign creditors, Metinvest CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said.
“The debt for VAT refunds confirmed by us and the state is 3.5 billion UAH. Unfortunately, we don’t see serious progress at the end of last year when the debt totaled some 2 billion UAH. We had certain sums refunded, but we continue operating and exporting, and this does not cover VAT amounts appearing – it continues swelling,” he said.
“This is a rather complicated situation for us, as the company’s economy is built on the assumption that laws in the country are working and VAT is paid on time,” he said.
Ryzhenkov said that VAT refunding was not crediting the company, as the company had paid the money to the budget.
“The state has received it, and now under Ukrainian law it is obliged to return it to the company,” he said.
Ryzhenkov said that the defaulted debt of Metinvest to foreign creditors has reached $113 million, which was why it had announced the so-called “restricted technical default” of the company. The debt of the state to Metinvest solely for VAT has reached $150 million under the current exchange rate.
“If the fiscal service works normally and VAT is refunded, we could calmly work with our creditors and not think about the postponement of terms of debt payments,” he said. (https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/260978.html/Ukrainian metal)