Canada’s draft federal budget for 2022 (starts July 1), presented by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in Parliament on Thursday, provides for the continuation of active financial support for Ukraine, in particular, the allocation of CAD500 million (almost $400 million) of military assistance and CAD1 billion (almost $800 million) loans.
“Canadians support the brave people of Ukraine, who are fighting for their lives, for their sovereignty, for their own and for our own democracy,” reads the preamble to a separate “Support for Ukraine” section of the budget, posted on the Canadian Treasury website.
According to him, at the beginning of this year, Canada announced the expansion of Operation UNIFIER, the mission of the Canadian armed forces to provide military training and support to Ukrainian forces, under which since 2015 Canada has trained about 33,000 Ukrainian military and security forces, as well as the provision of military assistance to over CAD90 million
“The 2022 budget proposes to allocate an additional CAD500 million in 2022-2023 to provide additional military assistance to Ukraine,” the draft reads.
It clarifies that Canada is already providing military assistance, both lethal and non-lethal, and is also partnering with allies to share intelligence and provide support in enhancing Ukraine’s cybersecurity.
With regard to sanctions and holding Russia accountable, the draft 2022 budget announced the government’s intention to clarify the powers of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to confiscate and dispose of assets belonging to individuals and entities under sanctions.
The document states that to date, Canada has provided CAD145 million in humanitarian assistance and CAD35 million in development assistance to provide direct support to Ukrainians affected by the illegal Russian invasion, as well as loans totaling CAD620 million to support Ukraine’s financial stability, economic sustainability and governance reforms.
“The 2022 budget announced that Canada will offer up to CAD1 billion in new credit resources to the government of Ukraine through a new managed account for Ukraine at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) so that the government can continue its activities,” the draft reads.
It clarifies that Canada has worked with the government of Ukraine, the IMF and other member countries to establish this mechanism and encourage allies and partners to participate.
In addition, Canada recalled that since March 17, it has given permission to Ukrainian refugees and their closest relatives of any nationality to stay in Canada as temporary residents for up to three years with the right to work. They will also have access to additional support such as language training and career guidance services.
The federal government is also developing a special permanent residence program for Ukrainians with relatives in Canada.
“The government has provided new funding of CAD111 million over five years with CAD6 million in subsequent years to implement these new immigration measures,” the draft states, including CAD78 million for this purpose in the draft 2022 budget.
The reduction in expenditures of the general fund of the state budget-2022, which will allow UAH 73.32 billion to be allocated to the Reserve Fund, will affect a significant part of the managers, follows from the relevant resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 401 of April 1, published on the government website on Sunday.
In particular, according to it, spending on the Verkhovna Rada will be reduced by UAH 270.8 million, the State Administration of Affairs – by UAH 121.5 million, the economic and financial department of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers – by UAH 271.6 million, the State Judicial Administration – by UAH 1 billion 576.3 UAH million Office of the Prosecutor General – by UAH 1 billion 402.6 million.
In addition, expenses were reduced for such administrators as the Ministry of Economy – by UAH 689.4 million (mainly for the State Food and Consumer Service and anti-epizootic measures), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – by UAH 562.7 million, the Ministry of Health – UAH 588.7 million, the Ministry of Energy – UAH 510.6 million (mainly in the coal industry), the Ministry of Agrarian Policy – UAH 552.4 million (mainly the formation of the Loan Guarantee Fund in the agro-industrial complex and land inventory for the State GeoCadastre).
This list also includes the Ministry of Sports – UAH 1 billion 258.4 million, the Ministry of Finance with tax, customs and State Financial Monitoring – UAH 2 billion 507.3 million, the Ministry of Justice – UAH 669.4 million, the Ministry of Culture – UAH 847.2 million, the Ministry of Reintegration – 437, UAH 6 million, the National Academy of Sciences – UAH 549.8 million, the State Space Agency – UAH 245.2 million (of which rocket fuel disposal – UAH 240 million) and a number of other government agencies with smaller spending cuts.
However, the main cuts are in general state spending supervised by the Ministry of Veterans – UAH 5 billion 496.1 million (mainly subventions to local budgets), the Ministry of Education and Science – UAH 14 billion 771.3 million (including educational subsidies to local budgets – 10.8 billion UAH) and the Ministry of Social Policy – UAH 32 billion 147.5 million (including the Pension Fund – UAH 20.1 billion).
In addition, UAH 3 billion 774.4 billion will be released at the expense of the Ministry of Infrastructure, mainly due to the article on guaranteeing flights to Ukraine (UAH 3.63 billion) introduced on the eve of the war.
As reported, in March, the government already carried out the first such sequestration of the budget for UAH 107 billion – these funds were also directed through the Reserve Fund to finance priority needs during the war, including support for the army. As Minister of Finance Sergei Marchenko explained, the government has such powers within the framework of martial law introduced in the country.
The budget of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the provision of humanitarian assistance in Ukraine has been increased to 250 million Swiss francs, the organization’s president, Peter Maurer, said.
“Some 75 million Swiss francs until February 24 (Russian invasion of Ukraine) per year was the approximate budget of the International Committee of the Red Cross for Ukraine. We asked our donors for 150 million Swiss francs. As a result, now our budget for Ukraine is 250 million Swiss francs. Then there are donors who are very generous in everything related to the situation in Ukraine, and this will allow us to expand our activities,” Maurer said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine and the Ukraine 24 TV Channel.
According to him, the ICRC’s humanitarian operation in Ukraine is the largest in the world in recent decades.
“Just for comparison: before the escalation in Ukraine, the largest Red Cross operations were carried out in Afghanistan, Syria. That is, with a budget of 180-190 million. Now Ukraine is our largest operation in the world,” he said.
Maurer also noted that the ICRC has already delivered 200 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and is ready to start distributing it.
Among other types of support, he named the intention of the organization to locally purchase goods and receive services, to support the economy. The president of the humanitarian organization also said that he had agreed with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on the implementation of a cash support scheme for the country, similar to the one during the COVID-19 crisis.
Energoatom, based on the results of its activities in 2022, must allocate half of its net profit to the budget, provided that the second half is directed to the implementation of an investment program.
The corresponding decision is enshrined in resolution No. 134 of February 16, 2022 on amending the procedure for deductions of a part of net profit (income) to the state budget by state unitary enterprises and their associations, published on Friday on the Uriadovy Portal.
“The share of net profit deducted by Energoatom based on the results of financial and economic activities in 2022 is determined in the amount of 50%, provided that 50% of net profit (income) from its activities is directed to the implementation of the investment program,” the resolution says.
According to Energy Reform, the government has yet to make a decision on the amount of deductions based on the results of 2021.
The Verkhovna Rada has adopted at the first reading the draft law on the state budget for 2022.
The corresponding decision at a plenary session on Tuesday was supported by 273 deputies with the required 226 votes.
As reported, on October 20, the Verkhovna Rada began to consider the draft state budget for 2022 and adopted it as a basis, after which the parliament began discussing separate amendments of deputies.
MPS propose to amend the state budget for 2021 and distribute UAH 38.75 billion of additional receipts, including UAH 12 billion for subsidies and UAH 15 billion for the repair of national roads.
Bill No. 6052 was registered by a group of MPs in parliament on Tuesday.
According to an explanatory note to the bill posted on the parliament’s website, it is proposed to increase receipts from corporate income tax – by UAH 30 billion, VAT on imports – by UAH 6 billion, VAT on goods manufactured in Ukraine – by UAH 2 billion, fee paid during the legal process for establishing ownership to cars – by UAH 0.75 billion.
At the expense of these additional receipts, the MPs propose to increase spending on subsidies by UAH 12 billion, to UAH 47.295 billion, according to the bill.
In addition, the MPs propose to provide for an additional amount of funding for the road infrastructure in the amount of UAH 15 billion.
“In particular, in 2021, it is planned to carry out repair and construction work on a total length of 4,500 km of state highways, but the existing funding is currently insufficient to implement these plans,” the authors of the bill said in the explanatory note.
The bill also proposes to send additional funding in the amount of UAH 2.5 billion for the construction of social and cultural facilities, transport infrastructure. Thus, it is proposed to increase the amount of subventions from the state budget to local budgets by the indicated amount.
In addition to this, the bill proposes to allocate UAH 1.5 billion from additional receipts for the construction of projects within the framework of the Big Construction state program.
Another UAH 1 billion is proposed to be used to pay off debts and pay salaries to employees of state-run mines. In addition, the MPs propose to allocate UAH 556 million to replenish the charter capital of the state-owned enterprises Boryspil International Airport, Ukraine state aviation enterprise and Ukrservice of the Transport Ministry.
Amendments to the current state budget also imply the following directions: UAH 282 million to provide housing for 215 internally displaced persons who defended the sovereignty of Ukraine, UAH 280.5 million for timely settlements with dismissed military personnel, UAH 176.8 million for providing prisons with food and settlements for utilities, UAH 86.9 million for a budget program for the development of an emergency medical care system and modernization of the material and technical base of healthcare institutions, as well as UAH 10 million for additional circulations of the Uriadovy Kurier newspaper.
