Rada adopts budget amendments with 7.5% of GDP deficit

Ukraine’s parliament adopted on Apr. 13 the bill
amending the 2020 state budget, increasing
the deficit to 7.5% from 2.1% of GDP on Apr. 14, the Interfax-Ukraine news
agency reported. The bill drew 249 votes (compared to 226 needed), all of which
belong to the pro-presidential People’s Servant majority faction.

The remaining four parliamentary factions didn’t
support the amendments. “The government wasn’t able to balance the changes
to the budget, nor make an argument with realistic numbers and logic, and yet
parliament rushed to approve it. Instead of justified spending on the fight
with coronavirus, backed up by additional resources and understandable savings,
Ukraine gained new risks of corruption,” said Serhiy Rakhmanin, the head
of the Voice parliamentary faction, on the party website.

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: As we expected, the bill easily found the necessary votes. This
measure, alongside with the soon-to-be-signed law creating the farmland market, are two out of three requirements for securing
IMF and other international funding that is critically needed amid the
coronavirus crisis.