Parliament Approves Next Year’s Budget

Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, approved the draft Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2025” in the second final review, the Ministry of Finance press release says. 

This means that Ukraine has approved the budget for the next 2025 year on time, as it should have voted for the final version of the budget with lawmakers amendments no later than the first of December. 

Despite the war, the parliament met its deadline for a third year in a row, having also approved the budgets on time in 2022 and 2023.

Previously, Chair of the Committee on Budget of the Verkhovna Rada Roksolana Pidlasa called it “The Budget of War” as it is mostly aimed at financing defense spending to fight Russia’s invasion, also social wages, and the recovery of Ukraine’s key economic sectors. 

Ukraine will get Hr.2.05 trillion ($45.56 billion) in revenues, as well as $38 billion in international aid. Ukraine plans to spend Hr. 3.6 trillion ($80 billion).

Most of the spending will be allocated to defense – the Ministry of Finance estimates it will cost Ukraine 26.3% of its GDP in 2025. 

That is Hr.2.2 trillion ($53,66 billion). It includes salaries for the military, weapons and military equipment, funding for updating the regulation of the defense industry conducted by Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries, procurement of drones and other supplies the military needs. 

Other Topics of Interest

Polish Grupa Pracuj Increases Stake in Work.ua and Robota.ua as Co-Founder Exits

The Polish shareholder acquired Andrii Borovyk’s stake in the companies in a $7.6 million M&A deal, while other buyers are co-founders of Ukraine’s largest job website competitors.

Social wages for low-income families, disabled and pensioners include Hr. 420.9 billion ($9.35 billion). Financing is also secured for veteran rehabilitation, salaries and grants for teachers. 

Ukraine also is taking steps intended to eliminate corruption in Ukraine’s social wages for law enforcement and the so-called “privileged” pensioners who receive higher-than-average pensions without a specific reason. 

“The government is finally addressing the issue of excessively large pensions awarded to privileged retirees through court rulings and tackling the problem of ‘new’ Chornobyl beneficiaries in the exclusion zone and several other distortions in the social sphere that create significant inequities,” Pidlasa wrote in her Facebook post.

Another part of spending is allocated to regular state expenditures: healthcare, local governments, support for theaters and culture, e-governance and the Diia platform, sport and support of concessional loans for business. 

Ukraine will also support local governments close to the front line by allowing them to retain more tax revenues locally, rather than allocating it to the general wallet in the capital. 

The growth will primarily come from increased revenues from personal income tax (PIT), rising from Hr. 280.9 billion ($6.24 billion), along with an additional Hr. 36.5 billion ($0.81 billion) subsidy for local budgets with a focus on supporting de-occupied territories.