Ukrainian budgets are usually passed in a rush at the last minute.

So when Ukraine’s budget for 2018 was passed calmly on Dec. 7 (though admittedly late at night), it looked as if some improvement had been achieved in the process of settling the state’s annual spending and revenues plans.

The Presidential Administration was quick to praise the new budget, calling it the largest in Ukraine’s history with more spending on education, the army and law enforcement.

But the Presidential Administration’s praise means little when Ukrainians are still unable to make a proper assessment for themselves.

Ukraine still has nothing like USAspending.gov in the United States, a publicly searchable website, which lets Americans see how their tax dollars are spent.

Ukrainians have no idea how much of the money is being spent supposedly for national security reasons.

Ashton Carter, a former U.S. secretary of defense, speaking in Kyiv on Dec. 11 noted that 95 percent of the U.S. Defense Department’s budget is open to taxpayer inspection; the reverse is true in Ukraine.

The 2018 budget increases spending on Ukraine’s army and the defense industry to $5 billion or 5 percent of gross domestic product. The reasons are obvious given the nation is at war with Russia.

But the excessive secrecy will fuel corruption. There is no reason to believe that Ukraine’s officials will stop profiteering from the war. And giving more money to Ukraine’s unreformed and distrusted law enforcement agencies – prosecutors, Security Service of Ukraine, Interior Ministry and courts – is also unwarranted.

Until Ukraine’s government shows exactly how it is spending the people’s money, special interests will continue to profit and private investment will continue to go anywhere else but to Ukraine.