Significant benefits for Belarus from tax maneuver talks with Russia

        The negotiations on the tax maneuver with Russia resulted in significant benefits for Belarus, First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said at a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, BelTA reports.
Speaking about Russia’s decision to do the oil tax maneuver, Vladimir Semashko noted that for Russia it was a necessary step.
          It was needed in order to stimulate the flow of capital into oil exploration projects as now Russia is developing the oil deposits that were, for the most part, discovered in Soviet times. "Russian oil refineries are technologically lagging behind the two Belarusian refiners,” said Vladimir Semashko. “The ratio of the two main components that determine the price of oil for export (mineral extraction tax and export duties) was not quite right,” Vladimir Semashko noted. The tax maneuver is designed to reduce the export duty and increase the mineral extraction tax, Vladimir Semashko explained.