Government refrains from raising car tariffs

Russian government does not intend to raise tariffs on new imported cars, stated head of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation German Gref to journalists. “We dismissed the whole idea,” stated the minister.

Gref said he had heard of the supposed raise of tariffs from journalists. “I am definitely not the one to plan this; perhaps, someone else is,” “Interfax” quotes the minister.

Currently, import tariff constitutes 25%.

As a reminder, Russia's major car manufacturers suggested raising tariffs for imported sedans. President of the Russian Association of car Manufacturers Evgeny Lebechev claimed it was important due to Russia's entering the World Trade Organization. According to him, it is more profitable to import new cars with an import tariff under 35%, then to invest in a manufacturing on the Russian territory.

“Under new market conditions, customs tariff on new cars has to be 35%,” stated Lebechev. He suggested that “tariff raise on new imported cars activates the overall inflow of foreign capital into our domestic car manufacturing industry.”