Photo from UNIAN
According to the prime minister, smuggling costs the Ukrainian economy tens of billions of hryvnias.
Smuggling in Ukraine would have been impossible without the participation of all of the country's law enforcement agencies.
"Last Wednesday I made a rather strong statement on fighting smuggling," Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman told a Kyiv forum held Tuesday.
"Yesterday, we met here in the government with all law enforcement agencies. But don't we all know that without the participation of all law enforcement agencies, smuggling would have been impossible?" he said.
According to the prime minister, smuggling costs the Ukrainian economy tens of billions of hryvnias.
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"And what is contraband? It's tens of billions of hryvnias, which are taken from the Ukrainian economy, Ukrainian schools, Ukrainian hospitals, Ukrainian pensioners, and Ukrainian army. Yesterday we all gathered, and I'm glad that we made a decision to crack down on smuggling. Last year I managed to mobilize more than UAH 70 billion. I am sure that no fewer resources are now part of shadow schemes destroying the national economy," Groysman stressed.
As UNIAN reported earlier, following the meeting of the Coordinating Council with the participation of the leadership of law enforcement bodies, Groysman said that the Cabinet of Ministers and law enforcement agencies had developed a joint plan to combat smuggling.
Earlier, the prime minister said that in 2017, the increase in customs revenues at UAH 70 billion compared to 2016 was made possible through de-shadowing. According to the prime minister, the potential for further de-shadowing is almost the same.