The Ukrainian government has approved a reduction in the rate of deduction of net profit of the state enterprise Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) from 75% to 50% in 2018, which will allow reducing shipping, canal, sanitary, anchorage, berthing and administrative port charges and light duty.

"Our ports are expensive, and businesses constantly raise the issue of reducing fees, and we are reducing fees to make the ports more competitive," Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said, commenting on the relevant decision taken at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

According to him, the Ministry of Infrastructure, together with the Ministry of Economic Development, the State Regulatory Service and the Ministry of Justice, must take measures to reduce these charges within two months.

The explanatory note to the draft resolution notes that the port charges account for about 68% of the net income of the USPA, so the government's increase in the rate of transfer of state enterprises' net profit to the budget at the end of 2015 from 30% to 75% made it impossible to lower tariffs.