You're reading: State budget for 2015 should be adopted before Dec. 26 – Hroisman

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Hroisman has said at a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt that Ukraine's state budget for 2015 should be adopted no later than Dec. 26, the parliament's press service reported on Dec. 19.

According to Hroisman, the adoption of the budget by the end of this year, taking into account the proposals for fiscal decentralization, is related to the need to approve local budgets.

He said that on Dec. 23, the Verkhovna Rada should consider at first reading the proposed amendments to the tax and budget codes, as well as the draft budget for next year. After that, Hroisman said, it will be necessary to make a break in plenary meetings for the processing of bills in committees and their subsequent consideration in accordance with parliamentary procedures.

Hroisman said that he had initiated a meeting between Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk and the leaders of coalition factions on the budget and that government officials and MPs were currently working to agree on their positions by Tuesday.

Pyatt, in turn, noted that discussions on the draft budget contributed to the development of democracy and parliamentary culture, noting in this context that the budget process in Verkhovna Rada committees was taking place openly and transparently.