The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) supports a return to taxation of imports, while the list of critical imports can be financed, NBU Deputy Governor Serhiy Nikolaychuk has said.

"At present, we believe that the list of critical imports that we currently have can be financed. At the same time, we believe that import taxes that were canceled at the beginning of hostilities should be returned," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

According to Nikolaychuk, after the return to taxation of imports, it is possible to consider the possibility of applying special duties to expand the list of non-critical imports, while lifting the ban on the purchase of foreign currency and cross-border transfers for the purchase of these non-critical imports.

"We already had such experience in 2014, and I am convinced that it will not be very difficult to justify the use of such a mechanism in the World Trade Organization during a war," Nikolaychuk said.

As reported, after the start of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine on February 24, the government on the same day, by resolution No. 153, determined a list of critical import goods, for the purchase of which the National Bank of Ukraine allows buying foreign currency. Since then, the Cabinet of Ministers has made changes to this list more than 10 times.

In March, the Verkhovna Rada exempted the import of goods to Ukraine from import duties and VAT for payers of the single tax of the first or third group, paying tax at a rate of 2% of turnover, and also established a simplified form of customs clearance. Soon, several bills were registered in the parliament, which provide, among other things, a return to import taxation. However, consideration of such initiatives in the hall slowed down.