Svitlana Boiko

Purpose. The paper estimates the assets of commercial banks in Ukraine by the share of corporate loans and government bonds and identifies potential risks affecting the banking system and the economy. Methodology. This study conducts an empirical analysis of Ukrainian commercial banks’ balance-sheet assets to test whether asset composition is largely explained by two dominant components: corporate lending and holdings of government bonds. Empirically, we combine (i) Pearson pairwise correlation analysis, (ii) dispersion measures based on the coefficient of variation and standard deviation, and (iii) regression analysis using linear regression specifications to quantify the strength and stability of these relationships. Findings. Since Q2 2023, government bonds have accounted for a larger share of Ukrainian commercial banks’ assets than corporate loans, and the gap has continued to widen in favor of sovereign securities. A key macroeconomic concern is the associated contraction in corporate credit, which can depress private investment and labor demand, with adverse implications for output and employment. At the same time, increased bank demand for government bonds supports fiscal financing and can facilitate deficit coverage, including expenditures linked to social obligations, defense, and business support programmes. Testing whether banks’ propensity to hold government bonds is associated with standard performance proxies, we find no strong correlation with bank capital or total assets. Nevertheless, a higher bond share increases exposure to sovereign risk, with this concentration particularly pronounced for state-owned banks.Originality. It is recommended that the National Bank of Ukraine revise requirements for commercial banks' assets and introduce limits on investments in government bonds.

The study was conducted based on data on banking performance in 2020-2024, published by the National Bank of Ukraine and data on the performance of commercial banks, as well as data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine on GDP, data from the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine on the volume of public debt on domestic government loan bonds, data from the National Bank of Ukraine on the dynamics of the discount rate. When writing the article, general and special research methods were used, such as analysis methods (when studying the dynamics of financial results of commercial banks in Ukraine and calculating the real (effective) income tax rate), correlation and regression analysis (when determining the factors influencing the amount of accrued income tax), comparison (when comparing the dynamics of tax burden indicators in Ukraine and EU member states), etc. It is substantiated that the reform of bank profit taxation in Ukraine took place in the face of complex socio-economic, political and geopolitical challenges and martial law that faced Ukrainian society and required the search for additional revenues to budgets of various levels to finance the needs of defense, security and support of the economy, its post-war recovery. The main directions of the tax reform in terms of profit taxation were an increase in the base rate exclusively for banks from 18% to 50%, as well as changes in the application of differences, which had a fiscal effect of about UAH 70 billion against target indicators from the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine in the amount of UAH 24-25 billion, the maximum approximation of the base and real profit tax rates. It is proven that the reform of the taxation of commercial banks' profits took place in violation of certain principles of taxation (equality of all taxpayers before the law, prevention of any manifestations of tax discrimination, neutrality of taxation, stability, fiscal sufficiency). It is recommended to review the main approaches to taxation by introducing a tax on excess profits of banks from government bonds, that is, direct taxation of high-yielding government securities in the event of receiving such excess profits, which minimizes the negative impact on the dynamics of banking activity indicators and macroeconomic indicators, as well as the investment attractiveness of the Ukrainian banking sector for foreign banking groups. Keywords: commercial banks, taxation of profits, tax shifting, profit tax, tax burden on banks, government bonds, fiscal effects.

This paper aims to provide a retrospective assessment of Ukraine’s state policy concerning state-owned banks and evaluate their impact on the sustainability of Ukraine’s public finances. The research methodology employs an empirical study of the cash flow of public funds to state-owned banks and the reverse cash flow to determine the impact of the activity and stability of public finances. The cash flow to state-owned banks includes the expenditure of public funds for the creation of authorised capital during the establishment of state-owned banks, the acquisition of shares in operating commercial banks, additional capitalisation of state-owned banks, etc. The reverse cash flow comprises dividends paid based on the performance of state-owned banks, as well as revenue generated for public funds through the sale of shares (privatisation) of state-owned banks. This study highlights the costs associated with recapitalising state-owned banks. These costs disrupt the stability of public finances, create additional debt dependency for Ukraine, impose an additional burden on public finances, and lead to structural changes that reduce funding for social spending. As a result, Ukrainian taxpayers are financing the inefficient activities of state-owned banks while experiencing reduced investments in education, healthcare, social protection, environmental protection, and other essential areas.

The tax burden determines the payment of taxes by the market subject to various budgets and serves as the basis for verification by the State Tax Service. The corporate income tax rate, which is equal to 18% in Ukraine, is called normative. The effective tax rate can be determined from the standpoint of macroeconomic analysis of the tax burden for the industry and from the standpoint of microeconomic analysis of the tax burden for individual enterprises. It is relevant to study the effective tax burden of food industry enterprises, which form significant shares of GDP and tax payments in the consolidated budget of the country. The purpose of the study is a microeconomic analysis of the influence of factors on the effective tax rate of food industry companies of Ukraine and the verification of the hypothesis about the degree of deviation of the effective rate from the normative tax rate of food enterprises. Methodology. The methods of generalization, descriptive statistics and systematization, factor and correlation-regression analyses are used in the investigation. Economic and statistical analysis was carried out using Microsoft Office software packages. The results. An algorithm for calculating the effective corporate tax rate is proposed. The list of financial operations at food enterprises of Ukraine, which produce a change in the financial result before taxation, is determined. It was revealed that in recent years the effective tax burden approaches to the normative tax rate, 18%. A methodology of microeconomic calculations was developed for assessing the tax burden of a company based on indicator-factors, including: company assets, income from product sales, number of employees, share of liabilities in assets, share of tangible assets in assets, share of current assets in assets, profitability of assets and equity capital, labor intensity, growth rate of real GDP. Correlations between the effective tax rate and the factors are determined. The largest number of influencing factors and the number of correlations are obtained for four enterprises of the sample: private joint stock companies "Mondelis Ukraine", "Lagoda Confectionery Factory", "Rivne confectionery factory", "Kharkiv biscuit factory". Key words: tax burden, tax return, normative tax rate, effective tax rate, food industry enterprises, factoranalysis, correlation analysis.

The purpose of this article is to study the tax sustainability of agricultural companies in Ukraine. This article developed the following working hypotheses, which were derived from the main purpose of the study. The methodology for the assessment of tax sustainability has been improved due to the development of indicators of tax sustainability at all levels of the tax hierarchy. Our study confirms the hypothesis that the tax sustainability of Ukraine is worse than that of OECD member countries. The hypothesis that the tax sustainability of agricultural companies in Ukraine is worse compared to other sectors of the economy was confirmed as well. The main reason for the instability in the tax system and taxation of the agricultural sector of Ukraine is changes in tax legislation. The issue linked to the instability of agricultural companies is the lack of a company tax strategy. The research results presented in the paper are of considerable importance for ensuring the tax sustainability of agricultural companies in Ukraine.

Decentralization in Ukraine was actualized due to the inability of the local self-government system to satisfy the needs of the rural population in public services for the comprehensive development of a person, their self-realization, and the protection of their constitutional rights. The purpose of this empirical study is to examine development of rural areas in Ukraine in the context of decentralization. The methodology used was exploratory qualitative in nature and used a multiple case study, wherein data analysis were applied. We have found that the first result of decentralization in 2015–2018 is a slowdown in the decline of the proportion of the rural population, in the rate of decline of the available rural population, and the employment rate of the rural population. Our study refutes the hypothesis that the rural development targets, which were defined at the beginning of decentralization and fixed in the current legislation, have been achieved. Rural development targets have not been achieved, and economic modeling shows that there are no prospects for achieving them in the near future. The research results presented in the paper are of considerable importance for developing economic policy and the social development of rural areas, by addressing the needs of these rural areas.

The article is devoted to the study of long-term trends in the financing of agricultural enterprises in Ukraine. It is argued that agriculture is one of the most important types of economic activity for the Ukrainian economy, as together with other related types of economic activity (processing industry, trade) form about half of GDP. In such conditions, an important task of ensuring the sustainable development of agriculture is the financing of agricultural enterprises while respecting the principles of sufficiency and financial stability. The application of a system of absolute and relative indicators for empirical assessment of financing of agricultural enterprises of Ukraine, as well as technologies of regression analysis, correlation analysis is proposed. It is established that the financial resources of agricultural enterprises of Ukraine in the study period (2009–2019) increased 7.2 times, which exceeds the growth rate of total financial resources of enterprises in the economy and by type of economic activity (transport, warehousing, postal and chickens). activities, industry, construction, wholesale and retail trade, financial and insurance activities, etc.). It is argued that the periodization of financing of agricultural enterprises of Ukraine in the long run on the basis of seven features (total financial resources, equity, long-term liabilities, current liabilities, level of financial stability, priorities by size of enterprises and priorities by type agricultural activity). The empirical assessment of financial support of agricultural enterprises of Ukraine allowed to distinguish three periods: 2010–2013 – toincrease in financial resources of agricultural enterprises of Ukraine with the predominance of equity, ensuring the financial stability of enterprises, violated payment discipline; 2014–2016 – toreduction of financial resources of agricultural enterprises under the condition of predominance of borrowed funds, partial loss of financial stability of enterprises during economic, currency and political instability; 2017–2019 – toincrease in financial resources of agricultural enterprises in the direction of restoring financial potential with the transition of importance to medium and small agricultural enterprises specializing in the cultivation of annual and biennial crops, livestock, ancillary activities in agriculture and post-harvest activities. Keywords: agriculture, financing of agricultural enterprises, financial resources, equity, loan capital, long-term trends.

The ratification of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the adoption of the Concept of the Reform of Local Self-Government and the Territorial Organization of Power in Ukraine in April, 2014 laid the groundwork for the approval of fiscal decentralization and the creation of fiscal frameworks for the development of rural areas. One of the defining conditions of fiscal decentralization is the provision of the local government with financial resources in an amount sufficient to perform their tasks for development of rural areas. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to study the peculiarities of rural development of Ukraine in terms of fiscal decentralization, identify the main problems, and present an argument for the directions towards enhancing the positive impact of fiscal decentralization on the social and economic development of rural areas. The methodological basis of the article is general scientific and special methods of research, in particular: economic and statistical; analysis and synthesis; tabular and graphical. The conducted research has made it possible to establish that the implementation of fiscal decentralization has resulted in greater interest of village council in increasing revenues to local budgets by transferring the right to receive more tax revenues and non-tax revenues, finding contingency local budgets, improving the efficiency of tax administration and fees. The study gives grounds for proposing approaches to increase the effectiveness of fiscal decentralization in the context of rural development, including expanding of the list of taxes and fees in budget revenues of united territorial community (e.g. corporate income tax, personal income tax, environmental tax); improving the mechanism for providing local budgets with inter-budget transfers from the State Budget of Ukraine; optimization of budget expenditures under the condition that a guaranteed and affordable level of public services is provided; increasing the accountability of local governments in order to prevent corruption; involvement of the population in active participation in development policy of rural areas.