Min says windfall income withdrawal from metals firms unreasonable

KUBINKA, Moscow Region, Aug 22 (PRIME) – The withdrawal of windfall income from companies listed in a proposal of President Vladimir Putin’s aide Andrei Belousov is unreasonable now due to their high leverage, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov told reporters on Wednesday.

“We, together with the colleagues from other ministries have come to a joint opinion that now (the decision) is unreasonable as (the proposal) does not take into consideration the parameters such as leverage, including funds borrowed for investment projects,” he said.

Earlier in August, Belousov suggested additional taxation of up to 500 billion rubles a year on some metals, petrochemical, and fertilizer producers, including metals companies Norilsk Nickel, Evraz, NLMK, Severstal, MMK, Metalloinvest, and Mechel, coal producer SUEK, diamond mining giant ALROSA, petrochemical holding Sibur, gold producer Polyus, and fertilizer producers PhosAgro, Uralkali, and Acron.

(67.1783 rubles – U.S. $1)

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