Crisis signal to the kremlin: “Gazprom” asks for tax benefits
russian gas monopoly “gazprom,” which recently threatened to “freeze Europe,” is now asking the state to lower taxes. Just last year, the company accumulated over one trillion rubles (approximately 12 billion USD) in net losses, so it is now calling on the government to “make certain adjustments” to the mineral extraction tax.
▫️ Due to the full-scale war against Ukraine and Western sanctions, “gazprom” has lost most of its European market. The russian authorities face a difficult dilemma. On one hand, lowering the tax burden would improve the company’s financial position. However, amid the enormous expenses of the war, the loss of profits from “gazprom,” which is one of the largest taxpayers, is highly undesirable for the russian government.
“gazprom” has strategic importance for the Russian economy, and its role goes far beyond just business. Its financial troubles, which are the result of the aggressive war against Ukraine, perfectly illustrate the vulnerability of the russian economic model and signal the growing crisis.
