PM Shmyhal: Cabinet seals draft state budget for 2023, sends it to Parliament

"Today, the main issue at the Government meeting is the adoption of the draft budget for 2023. Despite the war, we will submit the budget to the Parliament on time, that is, by September 15, as stipulated by the current Ukrainian legislation," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, the Government Portal informs.

He noted that the 2023 budget is a budget for victory, and the Government honestly tells society that the year will not be easy because war is very expensive.

Shmyhal noted that the main task was to use the available funds as efficiently as possible. He also emphasized that security and defense spending would increase fourfold.

"The budget we submit has one main priority: defense and security of our country. 1 trillion 136 billion hryvnias or almost 50% of the entire budget will be channeled specifically into the security and defense sector. These are salaries of the military, provision of the army, repairs and purchases of equipment and weapons and many other things important for defense. If we compare it with the budget that we submitted for 2022, security and defense spending increases more than fourfold," Shmyhal added.

The second priority of the budget is social programs.

"Pensions, subsidies, assistance to low-income families, payments to internally displaced persons, medicine and education spending are another 35% of all expenses in the draft budget. This is more than UAH 800 billion. It is important that the Government will increase assistance specifically for those who need it the most, in particular, we project an increase in financing of the Pension Fund from the budget by more than 30 billion hryvnias," he said.

All other expenses will be reduced. The main item of savings is the reduction of expenditures on state authorities.

"We reduce the number of officials, cut salaries and bonuses. With the exception of law enforcement agencies, the expenses for the maintenance of state authorities will be reduced by 11.6 billion hryvnias, compared to 2022," Shmyhal noted.

Minister of Finance Serhii Marchenko announced on Facebook that the budget for 2023 was developed by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and supported by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

"The state budget for 2023 is the budget of the country that will become stronger, reinforce its defense capabilities, be able to rebuild itself after damage caused by Russian armed aggression, and also take care of those citizens in need," Marchenko added.

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