The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, approved the state budget for 2024, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on Nov. 9.
When preparing the draft law for the second reading, budget revenues were increased by Hr 22 billion ($610 million) to the total amount of Hr 1.77 trillion ($49 billion). The expenditures remained almost the same at Hr 3.35 trillion ($93 billion).
The deficit was reduced by Hr 22 billion ($610 million) to Hr 1.57 trillion ($44 billion). The amount of necessary external borrowing was reduced from $42.9 billion to $41 billion based on an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The budget was supported by 276 deputies; one lawmaker voted against it, and 22 abstained.
Oleksii Honcharenko, a lawmaker for the opposition European Solidarity Party, said he voted against the budget since, according to him, it allocated insufficient funds for military needs.
The government approved the draft budget on Sept. 19, with around half of all funds allocated for defense and security purposes for the following year.
"The priorities are clearly set in the budget. All our internal resources will be used to resist and defeat the enemy," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal commented.
The parliament asked the government last month to reduce expenditures on construction and property purchases by state institutions and funding for the Bureau of Economic Security.
The parliament's amendments also included 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.
Olga Rudenko
