The city of Kyiv is asking the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to increase the subvention for the city's development from the national budget from Hr 750 million to Hr 7.5 billion, Deputy Head of Kyiv City Administration Ruslan Kramarenko has said.
“If we talk about figures, we’re short of Hr 7.5 billion to continue building key important facilities – the subway, Podilsko-Voskresensky Bridge, transport hubs, etc – at the volumes of the previous year. Now we’re working on the issue with the government, and this should be the basis for the amendments to the national budget after the first and second quarters,” Kramarenko said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that Kyiv City Administration has disagrements with the Finance Ministry on the issue.
“This is a normal working process, when we’re trying to prove our figures and they are proving their figures, and finally we reach a common figure. The main thing is that the process is going on, as we didn’t see this in the period of the formation of the national budget,” he added.
Kramarenko said that Head of Kyiv City Administration Oleksandr Popov had signed a draft law on amendments to the Budget Code, foreseeing that 100% of personal income tax is paid to Kyiv’s budget.
“Now the cabinet is to approve the initiative of Popov and submit the bill to the Ukrainian parliament. We’ve heard many statements from lawmakers from the opposition and the majority of the ruling party that support the bill. Let’s see,” he said.
Kramarenko said that if the bill is passed, the requirement of sending 100% of personal income tax to the Kyiv’s budget should be introduced from the new budget year. Now, it is important for the capital to achieve the increase of the subvention from the national budget, he said.
“Now the situation is the following: we have to obtain support from the Finance Ministry with regard to the revision of Kyiv’s budget indicators in the national budget… We’ve got it. We can also be guided by the statement of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister [Mykola Azarov] that the national budget at the end of the first quarter will be revised,” he said.
Kyiv City is to approve the budget now so that the city can finance the needs of the city.
“We hope that the financing for Kyiv city will be increased. On the one hand, the city is a living organism: wages have to be paid, fares for passengers with benefits have to be compensated for, and other payments have to be paid, which we cannot do without the approval of the budget,” Kramarenko said.
