Ukraine reveals first 2016 budget figures

Ukraine’s Finance Ministry released on Nov. 30 the provisional figures of the 2016 spending plan based on the government’s proposed taxation rules, including a payroll tax cut. Central budget revenue is planned to increase 15.7% yoy to UAH 598 bln while spending will grow 15.8% yoy to UAH 674 bln. The budget deficit will decline to 3.7% of GDP, which is UAH 83.4 bln

Alexander Paraschiy: The numbers we see offer only partial information. In particular, we see that central budget spending is planned to increase while the finance minister promised cuts earlier, which is probably due to strengthened funding for the Pension Fund from the central budget, which apparently will suffer revenue losses due to the payroll tax cut. Nevertheless, it’s too early to make any conclusions on the 2015 spending plan since more details have yet to come.