Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk said the draft national budget for 2017 foresees that spending on the law-enforcement sector in 2017 will remain at the same level as 2016, i.e. 5% of the GDP, including 3% on defense alone.
”In 2017, our approach will be the same, this is our priority. The law-enforcement block will be given 5% of the GDP, of which defense will receive 3%” he told TV Channel 5 on Thursday.
The spending is estimated at UAH 129 billion (about US$5.16 billion), he stated.
The financing of defense orders in the current year is proceeding as planned in the budget, he added.
”Everything concerning the state and defense orders is proceeding within the planned amounts stipulated in the budget. We have no problems there,” he stated.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers plans to table the draft budget for 2017 in parliament before September 15.
The Cabinet prepared a draft budget resolution for 2017 on June 24. The document is based on forecasts of GDP growth at 3-4% in 2017-2019 and reduction in inflation from 8.1% in 2017 to 5.2% in 2019. The unemployment rate is expected to go down from 8.6% in 2017 to 8% in 2019.
The state debt forecast in 2017 is capped at 66.8% of the GDP and in 2019 at 61.8% of the GDP.
