KYIV. UkraineGate . 13 . September . 2022 | Political News.
In the State Budget for 2023, one main priority is the defense and security of the country. More than UAH 1.1 trillion, or almost 50% of the entire budget, will be allocated to the security and defense sector. This was announced by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal during a government meeting .
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“The 2023 budget is a budget for victory. Already now, we honestly tell society that the year will not be easy. War is expensive. Very expensive. Therefore, the main task is to use the funds we have as efficiently as possible. In the budget that we are submitting, there is one main priority – the defense and security of our country. 1 trillion 136 billion hryvnias or almost 50% of the entire budget will be directed specifically to the security and defense sector. These are the salaries of the military, provision of the army, repairs and purchases of equipment and weapons, and many other things important for defense,” Shmyhal said.
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According to him, in comparison with the budget submitted for 2022, the increase in spending on security and defense will be more than 4 times.
“The second priority is social programs. Pensions, subsidies, assistance to low-income families, payments to internally displaced persons, expenses for medicine and education 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 to those who need it the most, in particular, we foresee an increase in financing of the Pension Fund from the budget by more than 30 billion hryvnias,” said Shmyhal.
He noted that in other words: 50 kopecks from each budget hryvnia will go to the army and security, another 35 kopecks will go to social benefits, medicine and education.
“All other expenses will be reduced. The main article of savings is the reduction of expenditures on state authorities. We are reducing the number of officials, cutting salaries and bonuses. With the exception of law enforcement agencies, expenses for the maintenance of state authorities will be reduced by 11.6 billion hryvnias, compared to 2022,” Shmyhal noted.
According to him, within the framework of the 2023 estimate, a budgetary Fund for liquidation of the consequences of armed aggression will be created in the amount of at least UAH 19 billion. There, we plan to accumulate the confiscated funds of Russia and Russians, as well as international aid for quick recovery. An additional grant for compensation of costs for local budgets in connection with the war in the amount of UAH 24 billion is also provided.
“Taking into account such priorities and limited resources, we ask people’s deputies to responsibly approach the issue of adopting the budget. We understand that there will be attempts to increase expenses. But, as I have already emphasized, war is expensive, and Ukraine cannot afford many positive but populist initiatives now,” Shmyhal said.
In addition, he said that in 2023 our own revenues will amount to 1.28 trillion hryvnias, while expenditures are planned at the level of 2.57 trillion hryvnias. Accordingly, we estimate the monthly budget deficit for next year at more than 3 billion dollars. International allies already help us finance more than a third of the budget.
“For our part, we are making every effort to ensure that the financial support of partners continues in 2023. And we definitely cannot afford additional non-targeted expenses,” added the Prime Minister.
Source : Ukrgate
