The law on the “State Budget of Ukraine for 2019” has every chance to be approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on November 22, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Oleksandr Sayenko has said. “We have already received preliminary approval of the draft state budget by the Verkhovna Rada, received conclusions and proposals from deputies. In the near future, it will be submitted to parliament for the second reading. We have every chance that the state budget for the next year will be adopted on November 22 and we will enter the new year without problems with financing,” Sayenko said.
The minister stressed that the state budget for 2019 is, first of all, the modernizing of pensions, the increase in pension payments for the next year, the recalculation of pensions for military personnel. This is the army budget and subsidy issues.
“In essence, the state budget proposed today by the government retains all the positive programs that we had, and the amount of funding increases for the most programs,” the minister concluded.
Revenue of Ukraine’s national budget in October 2018 totaled UAH 72.6 billion, which is UAH 1.2 billion (1.8%) more than the target, while revenue in January-October 2018 reached UAH 747.3 million, and the revenue target was met only by 97.7% (UAH 17.5 billion less).
According to information on the website of the State Treasury Service of Ukraine, compared with October 2017 revenue last month grew by UAH 10.8 billion or 17.6%, while in January-October rose by 15.4% or UAH 99.9 billion.
Tax payments in January-October 2018 exceeded the January-October 2017 figure by 17%, reaching UAH 312.5 billion, and the target was met by 100.4%. Customs payments over the period grew by 13%, totaling UAH 275.6 billion.
In October alone, tax payments amounted to UAH 26.6 billion, which was 25% more than a year ago. The target was met by 97.1%. Customs payments last month reached UAH 35.5 billion, a rise of 23% year-over-year. The target was met by 111.9%.
In general, the State Fiscal Service met the target by 105% in October 2018. Payments grew by 23.9% year-over-year.
The State Treasury Service said that in January-October 2018 VAT was refunded in the amount of UAH 107.9 billion, which is 11% more than a year ago. In October alone, UAH 10.3 billion was refunded compared with UAH 12.46 billion in September 2018.
The revenue target of the general fund in January-October 2018 was met by 97.9%. Revenue totaled UAH 673.1 billion. In October 2018, the revenue target of the general fund was met by 104.8%. Revenue came to UAH 64 billion.
Revenue of local budgets in October 2018 grew by 10% year-over-year, to UAH 22.2 billion. The target was met by 114%.
Revenue from payment of single social security tax in October rose by 25.9% year-over-year, to UAH 19.9 billion.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman hopes that the parliament would approve at second reading the bill on the national budget of Ukraine for 2019 before December 1, 2018. “Now it is being finalized for second reading together with the Ukrainian parliament. I hope that, and it must be done so, by December 1 Ukraine will receive a balanced, realistic national budget,” he said at a government meeting on Wednesday.
As reported, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff and Ukraine have reached an agreement on economic policies for a new 14-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), which will replace the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), approved in March 2015 and set to expire in March 2019.
The agreement is subject to approval by the fund’s management and approval by its board of directors. The board’s meeting is expected to take place at the end of the year after the Verkhovna Rada adopts the national budget for 2019 in accordance with the recommendations of the IMF and the increase in gas and heating tariffs for households, reflecting market trends while maintaining support for low-income consumers.
Leader of the Batkivschyna party Yulia Tymoshenko believes that the draft national budget for 2019 submitted by the authorities is a budget for the destruction of the economy, since it envisages raising tariffs and freezing minimum wages and pensions, which will lead to the total impoverishment of the population and the destruction of the middle class, according to the official website of the party.
“For the first time in the history of Ukraine, wages and pensions are equal to 43% of the subsistence level. This is the budget of total poverty, saving the tariff policy that is crushing for Ukrainian families – they are increasing by 23%. This is a corrupt and destructive budget for the economy,” Tymoshenko told journalists in the parliament.
According to the leader of Batkivschyna, the minimum wages and pensions provided in the estimates in U.S. dollar terms are 1.7 times less than they were at the beginning of 2014, health care financing has been reduced by 1.6 times.
According to Tymoshenko, it is unacceptable that the budget for 2019 is based on the old tax base, with twice the higher rates than in developed countries, which significantly slows down the development of the economy.
The politician noted that if the government draft budget is adopted, “the economy’s falling, emigration of people to other countries, the destruction of the middle class will continue.”
“This budget, in essence, is a verdict to the country. I hope that the deputies will not risk voting for it,” Tymoshenko stated.
BUDGET, PEOPLE, THREATENS, UKRAINIAN ECONOMY, WELL-BEING, YULIA TYMOSHENKO
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has approved a resolution on the conclusions and proposals to a bill on the national budget for 2019 drawn up by the parliamentary budget committee, which means the adoption of the draft national budget at first reading. An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that a total of 240 MPs backed the budget conclusions of the Verkhovna Rada. In addition, MPs on Thursday approved at first reading bill No. 9084 from the so-called budget package. The bill amends the Budget Code.
According to the Budget Code and the regulations of the Verkhovna Rada, the draft national budget for the next year should be adopted at first reading before October 20, although last year it happened only on November 14. After that, the Cabinet of Ministers, with the participation of the parliamentary budget committee, should, within 14 days, but no later than November 3, submit an updated draft to the Rada, taking into account its budget conclusions with a comparative table and explanations of the reasons for refusing individual proposals of the parliament.
Consideration of the draft national budget for 2019 at second reading should be completed before November 20, and at third reading with final approval – before December 1.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said he expects the Verkhovna Rada to adopt the country’s draft state budget for 2019 at first reading during the current plenary week from October 16 to 19. “This week we are expecting budget conclusions and the first reading of the draft state budget for 2019. People’s deputies have already submitted more than 2,000 proposals,” Groysman wrote on his Facebook page.
BUDGET, DRAFT, PARLIAMENT, PM
