Budget deficit came to 3.8% of GDP at end-2009

The Finance Ministry said yesterday that Ukraine’s budget deficit reached UAH 19.9 bln in 2009 and the consolidated budget shortfall – UAH 21.6 bln (2.3% of GDP).  Mykyta Mykhaylychenko:  The government included about UAH 13 bln from the International Monetary Fund’s SDR distribution directly into budget revenues. We believe, in their essence, these funds should be reclassified as a deficit financing item. The consolidated budget deficit adjusted for this amounted to ~UAH 35 bln or 3.8% of GDP in 2009. This number does not include government investments (at the expense of issuing UAH debt) into the share capital of Naftogaz to finance gas import payments (~UAH 30 bln) and infusions into the equity of the five state-owned banks’ (~UAH 20 bln).