Moldovan farmers likely to benefit from compensation to purchase diesel

Chisinau, 4 February /MOLDPRES/- Farmers could benefit from state aid as one-off budget allocations for offsetting the excise duty on diesel. Independent MP Alexandr Oleinic registered a legislative initiative in this regard.

He proposed that starting from 2020, a state aid scheme be set up to offset the excise duty on diesel used in agriculture, by eliminating the taxation of diesel used to perform mechanical work in agriculture.

“These allocations will contribute not only to reducing production costs, but also to increasing the profitability of agricultural activities. Moreover, by implementing these measures, prerequisites are created to respect the schedule of mechanized agricultural works, according to specific technologies, with implicit effect on the level of the obtained crops ”, Oleinic said.

The MP points out in the project that 111 liters of diesel are annually consumed in Moldova for processing a hectare of land or 250,000 tons for the entire processed area. The excise duty on diesel is 2,508 lei / ton, up by 228 lei than in 2019. Thus, Moldovan farmers will pay excise duties on diesel in 2020 amounting to 627 million lei, up by 57 million lei than in 2019.

"Under these circumstances, it is imperative to support the agricultural sector by compensating excise duty on diesel. We adopted the law on state aid since 2012, but we did not have examples of granting state aid directly in support of important sectors of the national economy or other areas, measures applied in the European Union," Oleinic said.