Fuel cashback: populism instead of real help?

The government’s initiative to refund money for fuel purchases has been met with skepticism due to the lack of an effective mechanism to influence the market. Such measures do not solve the problem of the rapid rise in the cost of resources, while the government ignores signs of price collusion by large gas station chains.

This was reported on the air of “Pryamoy” by Andriy Kovalev, candidate of political sciences.

“I think that the issue of so-called cashbacks is more from the perspective of populism and political PR than from the perspective of real help to Ukrainians,” the studio guest noted.

According to him, the Antimonopoly Committee does not perform control functions, allowing operators to raise prices synchronously. Instead of market regulation, officials offer complex digital tools that a significant part of citizens do not use. Even after activating the corresponding functions in state services, consumers often do not receive real payments, – added Kovalev.

At the same time, the political scientist gave an example of the work of small private gas stations, which are forced to adapt to large players. He is convinced that instead of developing new bonus programs, the Cabinet of Ministers should focus on combating monopoly agreements. The situation with the cost of petroleum products requires systemic solutions, not media projects, – Andriy Kovalev summed up.

Recall that Ukrainians will be able to receive up to 15% cashback for purchasing fuel at gas stations. The funds received will be credited to a special card and will be used to pay for Ukrainian goods and services. The total volume of the new cashback program is estimated by the Ministry of Economy at approximately 3 billion hryvnias. The funds will be redistributed within the budget of the ministry.

In addition, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the government is preparing new support programs for pensioners and people receiving social assistance. In particular, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine is to prepare assistance for April. At least 13 million Ukrainians will be able to receive additional payments of 1,500 hryvnias .

However, economic and political expert Pavlo Rozenko believes that initiatives to pay 1,000 hryvnia to all citizens, including wealthy officials, look like PR campaigns, rather than balanced social support . This raises legitimate questions from the IMF and the European Union about the sources of financing for such programs.

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