Parliament regularly submits amendments to state budget to finance Defense Ministry – Maliar

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, has regularly submitted amendments to the state budget to finance the Ministry of Defense over the past nine months of the war.

This was stated by Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar at a briefing at the Military Media Center, Ukrinform reports.

“In order for the Ministry of Defense to be able to finance all the needs of the Armed Forces, it is important to regularly submit amendments to the budget, which is done by the parliament. Over those nine months, there has been not a single failure or significant delay. That is, the issue of introducing amendments to the budget specifically for defense purposes is being worked out by both the Cabinet and the Verkhovna Rada," she said.

Maliar reminded that the state budget for 2022 envisaged UAH 130 billion in spending to the Ministry of Defense. At the same time, after the full-scale invasion of Russia, the ministry spends more than UAH 70 billion a month for the payments to the military.

As reported, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved at second reading and in its entirety the law "On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2023". In 2023, state budget revenues are projected at UAH 1.3 trillion, expenditures at UAH 2.6 trillion. The state budget deficit in 2023 is expected to exceed 20% of GDP.

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