In the state budget for 2024, it is necessary to close a "hole" of USD 5 billion in order to pay the financial support to the military in time and in full.
Head of the Verkhovna Rada's budget committee Roksolana Pidlasa (Servant of the People faction) announced this on Facebook, the Ukrainian News agency reports.
"The significant excess of costs over resources occurred not least due to the lack of a sufficient amount of military aid. In the 1st quarter, weapons procurement was actually made at the expense of future expenses, which were laid on the salaries of military personnel. For this, among other things, the funds of the Single Treasury Account were used. By the end of the year, we will need to fill a USD 5 billion "hole" in order to pay the military in full and on time," she wrote.
Pidlasa noted that the budget deficit does not show the whole picture of the state of affairs, the lack of state funds is greater than the deficit of the general fund of the budget - according to operational data of the Treasury, it exceeded UAH 476 billion in 5 months of the year.
"The "own resource" available to us (revenues without grants from partners + privatization + return of loans to the budget + funds from the OVDPs) amounted to UAH 930.8 billion in 5 months. Our expenses (expenditures + debt repayment + loans from the budget) amounted to UAH 1.46 trillion - 1.5 times more than the available resources (the difference is more than UAH 528 billion)," she explained.
At the same time, Pidlasa assured that budget expenditures were actually financed, the state currently has no critical debts to citizens, and by the end of the year social and humanitarian expenditures are provided with international support - in 5 months, a total of UAH 462.8 billion has been received from partners.
According to Pidlasa, the Rada will make changes to the budget in July to ensure all payments to the military.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in May, the head of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy, Danylo Hetmantsev (Servant of the people) announced that at least UAH 300 billion is needed to finance the army, and it is impossible to provide them by bypassing basic taxes, therefore changes will apply to budget-forming direct and indirect taxes, including VAT, military levy and excise taxes, while control over the spending of funds will continue to be strengthened.
The state budget for 2024 foresees UAH 1.7 trillion, or 21.6% of GDP, for defense and security.
In May, the Cabinet of Ministers proposed to the Verkhovna Rada to increase excise duties on fuel, sparkling wines and fermented beverages.
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