Parliament approves 2024 state budget in first reading
Ukraine’s parliament approved lawmakers’ proposals for the country’s 2024 state budget, adopting the draft law in the first reading, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak reported on Oct. 19.
The government now must process all the amendments and hand the revised document to the parliament for the final vote by Nov. 20.
Under the version adopted by the parliament, the state budget’s revenues are set at Hr 1.74 trillion ($47 billion), expenditures at around $90 billion, and budget deficit at about $43 billion.
The government approved the draft budget on Sept. 19, with expenditures on security and defense amounting to around $45.6 billion — over half of all funds allocated for 2024.
According to MP Iryna Herashchenko, the parliament has asked the government to reduce expenditures on construction and property purchases by state institutions and funding for the Bureau of Economic Security.
The amendments also include increasing expenses on prosthetics for the military, education subvention, and health services, as well as on the institutions involved in the reform of Ukraine’s judicial system.
Lawmakers asked the government to “once again” calculate whether it is possible to reduce non-priority expenses, of which there are allegedly a lot in the draft budget, said Herashchenko.
