The Verkhovna Rada has finally made changes to the Budget Code — this is necessary for the Subsoil Agreement

The Verkhovna Rada, in its second reading, adopted draft law No. 13256 on amendments to the Budget Code to implement the Subsoil Agreement.

This was reported by the MP from “Voice” Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

The decision was supported by 309 MPs.

Zheleznyak noted that almost nothing had changed in the text before the second reading.

Ukraineʼs contribution to the fund will consist of half of the funds received after the agreement enters into force from:

• rents for the extraction of minerals (oil, gas, gas condensate, etc.) from new licenses;
• issuance of new special permits for the use of subsoil;
• sale of the state share of production under new production sharing agreements.

This money will be credited to a special fund of the state budget and, by decision of the main administrator (presumably the Ministry of Economy), will be transferred to the Reconstruction Fund.

Subsoil Agreement

On May 1, Ukraine and the United States signed an agreement on subsoil resources — that is, on the creation of a US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund, which will attract global investments into our country.

The fund is a key instrument of cooperation between the United States and Ukraine for the countryʼs post-war reconstruction and its integration into the global economy. More information about the agreement is available here and here.

The signing of the agreement was preceded by months of political battles between Ukraine and the US. Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko noted that in the end, a version of the agreement was formed that provides for mutually beneficial conditions for both countries.

On May 6, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on International Policy recommended ratifying the minerals agreement. However, on May 7, the Committee voted down the decision — a text was added to the preamble of the resolution, stating that the deputies had not seen other agreements concluded along with the general minerals agreement.

On May 13, the Verkhovna Rada voted in the first reading for Bill No. 13256, which provides for amendments to the Budget Code to implement the Minerals Agreement.

In the evening of the same day, it became known that Ukraine had completed all necessary procedures to launch the American-Ukrainian Fund, and on May 23, Ukraine and the United States officially launched the fund.

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