Ukrainian parliament approves amendments to state budget for 2020

Ukrainian parliament approves amendments to state budget for 2020

Ukrinform
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has approved amendments to the country's state budget 2020 at first reading and as a whole.

A total of 252 MPs voted for bill No. 3279-d on the introduction of amendments to the law on Ukraine's state budget for 2020 at first reading, and 249 lawmakers voted for the document as a whole, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

According to the document, the budget deficit is to be increased by UAH 202 billion, to UAH 298.4 billion (from UAH 96.3 billion), revenues are to be reduced by UAH 119.75 billion, to UAH 975.8 billion (from UAH 1.096 trillion), and expenditures are to be increased by UAH 82.4 billion, to UAH 1.266 trillion (from UAH 1.184 trillion).

UAH 64.9 billion is envisaged in the budget to combat coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

In terms of revenues, tax revenues were reduced by UAH 145.4 billion, mainly due to a reduction in domestic taxes on goods and services and VAT on imports.

The document also envisages a reduction in a number of expenditures. In particular, spending on the payment of benefits and housing subsidies to citizens was reduced by UAH 8.2 billion. Expenditures on support for and development of merged territorial communities were reduced by UAH 2.1 billion, and spending on the payment of certain types of benefits, compensations, financial support and payment for services to certain categories of the population (the introduction of some of the increased social benefits was postponed from January 1 until July 1, 2020) was decreased by UAH 1.9 billion.

Expenditures for the functioning of the Energy Efficiency Fund were cut by UAH 1.6 billion, for statistical observations by UAH 1.2 billion, and for the development of physical education and sports by UAH 2.3 billion. Capital expenditures of central executive bodies were reduced by over UAH 1 billion.

In addition, until the end of the quarantine, starting from April 1, the salaries of state officials should not exceed UAH 47,000. This applies to judges, MPs, prosecutors, employees of the National Bank of Ukraine, the Central Election Commission, and many other officials.

Ukraine's government earlier revised the macroeconomic forecast for 2020. In particular, Ukraine's GDP is expected to fall by 3.9% compared to the 3.7% increase previously projected before the global crisis. The unemployment rate will reach 9.4% compared to the projected 8.1%, and the fall in real wages will be 0.3%.

The average annual hryvnia exchange rate is estimated at UAH 29.5 per U.S. dollar (compared to the October 2019 forecast of UAH 27 per U.S. dollar). The rise in prices in the consumer market will only temporarily accelerate to 8.7% (compared to 5.5% in the previous forecast) and will return to the target of 5% next year, according to the Cabinet of Ministers.

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