The Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko: Ukraine spends 130 billion hryvnias on war every month

Author:
Anhelina Sheremet
Date:

Every month, Ukraine spends 130 billion hryvnias on the military campaign. The monthly income of the budget is 80 billion hryvnias.

This was stated by Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko, writes the European Business Association.

He noted that last week the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) supported the changes to the state budget, which increased expenditures by more than 500 billion hryvnias (almost all of them will go to defense). According to the minister, it is important to collect the planned taxes this year, but no drastic tax changes are planned.

In addition, the World Bank has updated its estimate of the funds that Ukraine needs for recovery and reconstruction — $411 billion. At the same time, according to Marchenko, Ukraine has come as close as possible to covering the needs for this year — if the partners fulfill their obligations, the country will be able to finance the needs. The key areas of recovery will be energy infrastructure, demining, issues of lost or damaged housing of citizens, issues of social infrastructure (schools, hospitals, etc.) and creation of conditions for business development in Ukraine (credit and grant programs, military risk insurance, etc.).

The head of the Verkhovna Radaʼs Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev also noted that on average, 80 billion hryvnias are collected in taxes per month, and 130 billion hryvnias are spent on the war: "That is, we collect the rest through loans and bonds. Our partners do not give money for security and defense, this is money that we have to collect inside the country," he explained.

Ukraine is going to return pre-war taxes and business inspections from July 1.

  • On November 3, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada approved the state budget for 2023. 295 members of parliament voted for this decision. On November 23, the President Volodymyr Zelensky signed this law. Most of the money of this budget will go to the defense sector. Revenues of the state budget are expected at the level of 1.3 trillion hryvnias, expenses — 2.6 trillion. The marginal volume of the deficit will be 1.3 trillion hryvnias, or 20.6% of GDP. It is planned to cover it with the help of partners.