Ukraine discussing macro forecast, draft national budget for 2013 with IMF

The draft national budget of Ukraine for 2013 and the macroeconomic forecast it is based on are the key issues on the agenda of negotiations between the government of Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a source in the government has told Interfax-Ukraine.

On Tuesday the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine published information on a meeting between Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and IMF Mission Chief Christopher Jarvis, which was also attended by Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine Max Alier.

Neither of the participants of the meeting has commented on it.

Earlier, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Iryna Akimova told journalists that Jarvis was making an informal visit to Ukraine. In particular, he participated in the 9th Yalta Annual Meeting on September 14-15.

The technical mission of the IMF worked in Kyiv from August 29 to September 5, 2012. In particular, the mission held consultations with the Ukrainian government on the process of drafting the national budget for 2013.

Recently, First Vice Premier of Ukraine Valeriy Khoroshkovsky told journalists that experts from the IMF have seen "the macro economic frame" of the draft national budget of Ukraine for 2013 and did not agree with the forecast for the deficit in the document.

"As for the IMF, they know the macro economic situation very well. They understand everything absolutely clearly," he said.

The government of Ukraine did not change its macro forecast for 2012 and 2013, which foresees GDP growth at 3.9% and 4.5% respectively, drafted the national budget for 2013 based on the forecast and submitted it to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament. However, experts found such forecasts too optimistic and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn returned the draft budget for a revision following its discussion with the profile parliamentary committee. At the same time, the text of the budget was not posted on the Web site of the parliament and its copies were not distributed to MPs.

The deficit of the 2013 national budget is foreseen at 1.65% of GDP, or Hr 27.8 billion. According to the draft, the revenues of the national budget for 2013 could grow by 6.4%, to Hr 394.6 billion year-over-year, while the amount of budget expenditures on crediting will increase by 6.3%, to Hr 434.6 billion in 2013.

In general, the revenues of the consolidated budget for the next years are estimated by Hr 499.4 billion, which is 8% higher than the forecast was for 2012.