You're reading: Ukrainian parliament approves 2015 budget adjustments

The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada has backed the government adjustments of the 2015 state budget; budget revenues are set to grow by Hr 22.5 billion and expenditures will be up Hr 35.7 billion.

Some 273 deputies voted for the budget adjustment bill, a condition for the $17.5 billion IMF loan under a new EFF stand-by arrangement, an Interfax correspondent reports.

The state budget deficit will increase from 3.7 percent to 4.1 percent of GDP but due to the reduced support to Naftogaz Ukrainy and the Pension Fund the total deficit of the public management sector will go down from 13.5 percent of GDP last year to 8.8 percent this year, Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said

She added that the hryvnia fall (from Hr 17 to Hr 21.7 to the U.S. dollar) was a factor of the budget adjustment. For instance, it has increased state debt service expenditures by Hr 21.5 billion.

A source of budget revenue growth is an increase of rental payments on state oil and gas companies, which will subsidize the population after a rise of energy tariffs, by Hr 12.5 billion to Hr 25 billion, the minister continued.

Spending related to people displaced by the conflict in Ukraine will grow by Hr 2.9 billion to Hr 3.4 billion, Jaresko said.

While drawing up the 2015 budget adjustments, the Ukrainian government downgraded the GDP fall forecast to 5.5 percent (from Hr 1.721 trillion to Hr 1.85 trillion in the nominal value) and the inflation forecast from 13.1 percent to 26 percent.

The 2015 state budget law was passed late last year; it had Hr 475.9 billion revenue, Hr 527.9 billion expenditures and Hr 63.7 billion utmost deficit.

Last year, state budget revenue grew 5.3 percent to Hr 357.1 billion, and expenditures were up 6.6 percent to Hr 430.2 billion.