Ukraine. Parliament adopts state budget for 2012
2011-12-23 16:40:54
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has adopted a government bill on Ukraine's state budget for 2012 at second reading and as a whole.
Finance Minister Fedir Yaroshenko said before the consideration of the document that the pace of Ukraine's economic development would be retained even with the conservative version of the draft state budget for 2012.
"The forecast was changed from moderate to conservative during the preparation of the draft budget for its second reading. With focus on the development, Ukraine retains a moderate level of growth in GDP, while the pace of growth in the economies of European neighbors falls," he said.
The minister added that the specified macroeconomic forecast took into account the results of consultations held with representatives of the international community.
Yaroshenko said that the revenues of the consolidated budget totaled UAH 424 billion, which is UAH 4.2 billion less than during the first reading. At the same time, despite a decrease in figures compared with 2011, the revenues of the consolidated budget will rise by UAH 43.4 billion (11.4%), the state budget - by UAH 32 billion (10.6%), and local budgets - by UAH 11.6 billion (14.6%).
The finance minister also said that the government was continuing the policy of reducing the tax burden on the economy. The share of tax revenues will decrease by 0.5% to 19.1%.
In order to balance the budget, it was decided to reduce the capital expenditures of the budget by UAH 9 billion. In general, the expenditures of the state budget will total UAH 461.7 billion, which is UAH 35 billion more than in 2011, Yaroshenko said.
At the same time, Yaroshenko said that the government was continuing the policy of raising social standards and increasing social expenditures.
As UKRINFORM reported, the Ukrainian government approved the draft state budget for 2012 at an extraordinary meeting on December 21.
According to the document, next year's nominal GDP in Ukraine will be UAH 1.5 trillion. GDP growth is projected at 3.9%, with the consumer price index expected at 7.9% and the producer price index planned at 9.4%. The planned pace of growth in exports is 6.3% and imports 6.4%.
The budget deficit is expected at 2.5%.