OREANDA-NEWS. January 11, 2009. In ten months of 2008 the total amount of taxes, duties and other compulsory payments transferred by all enterprises of the Metinvest Group to local and state budgets and state targeting funds amounted to UAH 7.1 billion, reported the press-centre of SCM.

The amount for the same period in 2007 made bn UAH 4.1. Upon the results of 11 months of 2008 Metinvest Group is considered to be the major tax payer of Ukraine.

The State Tax Administration of Ukraine awarded ten legal entities - taxpayers of Ukraine. Three awarded companies belong to Metinvest Group: METINVEST HOLDING, Inguletsk Ore Mining and Processing Plant and Northern Ore Mining and Processing Plant.

During the awarding ceremony, which took place on the 18th of December, the Head of State Tax Administration of Ukraine noted that the aggregated amount transferred to the Ukrainian budget from major tax payers in the January to November period had increased by 32.6%. As of December 1, major tax payers had transferred UAH 15 billion or 14% of the total receipts. The amount of funds transferred from these companies has grown compared to the previous year and exceeded UAH 6 billion. Metinvest enterprises transferred more than UAH 4 billion to local and state budgets in the first half of the year. They transferred more than UAH 3 billion of tax paymentsin the August-to-October period.

In the words of Sergey Novikov, Financial Director of Metinvest Holding, at this time of global economic downturn consumption of metal products have dropped; still we consider that our key priority is to perform our obligations; and transparent policy of Metinvest Group proves it.

"We have always paid and we will keep paying taxes", underlined Sergey Novikov, Financial Director of Metinvest Holding.— Our tax allocations constitute a significant contribution to the budget of Ukraine.