The Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) will consider the government's proposed bill to increase defense spending by nearly UAH 303 billion by the end of September.
This was announced by Roksolana Pidlasa, the chair of the Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, in a comment to the publication “Economichna pravda”.
“As for the sources of coverage, most of the necessary funds will have to be borrowed – almost UAH 299 billion, of which about UAH 208 billion will be on the domestic market, and part of the funds will come from the overfulfillment of non-tax revenues”, she said.
According to the government bill, in 2023, there is a planned increase in expenditures for:
- Ukrainian Armed Forces (ZSU) – by UAH 195.7 billion
- National Guard of Ukraine – by UAH 39.7 billion
- State Border Guard Service – by UAH 20.4 billion
- Procurement and modernization of military equipment for the ZSU – by UAH 13.2 billion.
Pidlasa expressed confidence that the increase in expenditures would be supported by the parliament, as the government and the Verkhovna Rada have always responded promptly to the requests of the military.
The bill also proposes to increase expenditures to support veterans by UAH 16.5 billion by the end of 2023 and allocate UAH 1.2 billion to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Nearly UAH 6 billion in grant funds from the European Union will be directed toward the so-called “rapid recovery” – the reconstruction of damaged and destroyed objects.
Photo: open sources
