KIEV: Ukraine on Wednesday lifted an emergency import duty on cars which was imposed in 2013 to protect local producers, the state commission on foreign trade said. A sharp contraction of the Ukrainian economy caused mostly by a separatist conflict in eastern regions more than halved car imports to 92,400 cars in 2014.
“The commission has found that the national interests of Ukraine require the discontinuation of the emergency tariffs on imports into Ukraine,” the commission said in a statement. The tariffs of 6.5 to 13 percent on car imports were imposed in March 2013, after domestic production dropped sharply while imports had risen.
The move was criticised by foreign car producers and the World Trade Organization (WTO) this year backed a Japanese complaint about the tariffs and recommended that Kiev revoke them. Ukrainian domestic production fell by 43 percent last year to 28,751 cars.
