The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) revealed 32 illegal foreign exchange booths in Kyiv in the course of October inspections.
According to the report, the National Bank is not a body authorized to deal with the illegal exchange offices, as it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the SBU Security Service, and the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, therefore the regulator has informed these structures of illegal currency exchange offices.
The National Bank stresses that the main reason for the development of this market is a 2% fee to the Pension Fund from foreign exchange transactions. Since the illegal exchange offices do not charge this fee from their customers, the currency is sold cheaper in these booths than in the official offices. At the same time, the regulator says that it hopes for the abolition of the fee by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
It is also reported that starting December, the National Bank will regularly publish information on the revealed illegal exchange offices on its official website.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the mandatory pension tax on purchases of foreign currency in cash and non-cash forms at a rate of 0.5% was introduced for legal entities and individuals in 2014.
In early 2015, the Law of Ukraine on amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and some legislative acts of Ukraine on tax reform raised the fee to 2%. Legal entities and non-cash currency purchases were exempt from the tax.
Earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine repeatedly stated that the abolition of the pension tax on foreign currency purchase would reduce turnover on the shadow market in Ukraine, which is estimated by experts at $1 billion monthly.
