The idea of reducing insurance contributions from the current 30% to 21–22% while raising the VAT rate from 18% to 21–22% has been debated a lot since late in 2016. It is assumed that such a tax manoeuvre can reduce domestic producers' labour costs, and neither exporters nor investments will...

The first assessments of the effects of the coronavirus epidemic suggest that the extent of global recession may exceed economic losses brought about by the global 2008–2009 crisis. However, it is not yet clear for how long a sharp slowdown of the global economic activity is going to last and...