You're reading: Popov considers figures in 2013 budget for Kyiv to be mistake

 Head of Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Popov hopes that the figures in the 2013 budget for Kyiv will be revised.

“The main thing is to hold talks with the government and find out who made these mistakes,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

He noted that the figures in the 2013 budget for Kyiv have not been discussed with the Kyiv authorities.

“And this is the main reason. I am outraged by the fact that there have not been any consultations. In 2010, 2011, we held such consultations and found understanding, and, as you see, we solved many problems in Kyiv. But this year there have not been such consultations. We got the budget as soon as the Verkhovna Rada had passed it,” he said.

“If the government believes that it is right, then I think that this is the wrong government. We cannot act in such a way. This is not an issue for the Finance Ministry or the cabinet, this is an issue for every citizen of Ukraine. There are principles for passing a budget: it must be done openly, publicly, and these principles were not followed,” Popov said.

However, he said he was confident that the budget for Kyiv was not a punishment for the residents of the capital for the way they voted in the parliamentary elections.

“No, a similar situation is seen across the country,” said Popov.

As reported, previously Popov said that depriving Kyiv of half of the tax on individuals’ income, as foreseen in the 2013 national budget, would lead to the city’s general fund having a deficit of Hr 5 billion. In addition, according to Popov, Kyiv will not be able to implement its programs in 2013 without reviewing relations between the Kyiv city budget and the national budget.