Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers has proposed retaining expense expenditures for 2018 at 5 percent of GDP, according to the draft bill “Budget policy basics for 2018-2020 (Budget Resolution).”
“…The priority is supporting defense and security: expenditures for this sphere for 2018 will be at 5 percent of GDP,” Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk said, presenting the resolution.
“Within the framework of this document we are aiming to optimize the headcount and structure of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, as well as re-arming in correspondence with NATO criteria and standards,” Danyliuk said.
As reported, Ukraine’s president said defense and security expenditures for 2017 had been revised by the National Security and Defense Council to 5.2 percent of GDP. According to the head of state, the lion’s share was earmarked for Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
The Cabinet at the end of May raised the estimate of nominal GDP for 2017 from Hr 2.585 trillion to Hr 2.846 trillion and confirmed the 2018 estimate at Hr 3.248 trillion.
