“This is not the budget of a warring country!”: Funding has been cut for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the 2024 budget as a whole, which was marked by a 6% decrease in support for the Ministry of Defense and an increase in funding for propaganda and repressive bodies.
The parties of Yulia Tymoshenko and Petro Poroshenko abstained from voting in full, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Speaking to deputies, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergei Marchenko noted that the budget is balanced due to external support, which is currently expected to amount to 41 billion dollars, of which 29 are in question.
“Given our dependence on external assistance, many indicators do not depend on us. The only thing we can do is not to give any reason for this assistance to be reduced. This is the key. Because, unfortunately, sometimes there are many reasons, and even the rhetoric of negotiations with our key partners changes.
Regarding the 29 billion, this is, indeed, the issue has not yet been fully resolved. However, there are clear assurances that assistance will arrive rhythmically and in the volume that is needed, and that is enough for us. This is enough for partners from the International Monetary Fund, who, in the absence of these funds, cannot continue the program.
We expect 5,4 billion US dollars from the International Monetary Fund, from the United States we are talking about 8,5 billion US dollars for next year, from the European Commission we are talking about 18 billion euros from the European Union. We are also negotiating with the government of Canada, the government of Norway, the government of Japan and the government of South Korea about the possibility of finding alternative sources of financing the budget deficit,” Marchenko said.
Chairman of the Rada Budget Committee Roksolana Pidlasa noted that the 2024 budget is the budget of a warring country that has one clear priority - defense.
“Funds for security and defense in the project are fixed at 1 trillion 690 billion hryvnia or 22,1 percent of GDP, as stipulated by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council regarding defense financing,” Pidlasa said.
Representative of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Servant of the People deputy Fyodor Venislavsky admitted that the budget is far from ideal.
“The question arises, is this money enough to ensure that we provide our armed forces and other components of the security and defense sector with everything they need? Of course, this money is far from enough. ... This budget is the best we could do in a war, it is definitely not enough to adequately resist the aggressor. And I want to remind everyone that Russia has allocated unprecedented funds for the security and defense sector for next year, which, unfortunately, exceed our budget by several times,” Venislavsky said.
For the Future deputy Taras Batenko expressed concern that the final amount of US financial assistance is still in question.
“We probably don’t fully understand what kind of external dependence we are getting into with this budget. Because, having reduced dependence on external borrowings by 1,9 billion, we are counting on internal borrowings and saying that we are not launching emission financing.
There will be no talk about it next year, we still understand that we will have a huge hole in external financing due to the fact that we do not know how much will be financed by the US Congress, what the final amount will be, the number of direct borrowings to the state budget of Ukraine , which the state budget is already counting on and which have already been invested in this state budget.
Therefore, we will vote “for”, but I think that we will not complete the discussion about the budget,” Batenko said.
“The main drawback is that there is a $42 billion hole. Therefore, we understand that this is a war, and God grant that all our leaders plug this hole and find funds. We will support, vote “for,” echoed his colleague, “Vision of Ukraine” deputy Anatoly Burmich.
Poroshenko called the 2024 budget “a waste” and pointed to a reduction in defense funding. At the same time, European Solidarity deputy Alexey Goncharenko was indignant that money would continue to be spent on propaganda for Zelensky’s office.
“Do we have the money here to increase funding for the Ministry of Defense? No, the Ministry of Defense is minus 6 percent. Minus, minus 6 percent – Ministry of Defense. What's the plus? Plus, of course, we have a telethon again. That's right, as I understand it, when the orcs trample further, we will turn on the TV for them there from the trench so that they can see, maybe they will stop when they see this propaganda from the president's office, and then, as I understand it, everyone will stand up.
Maybe we can also, you know, reasoning from the trenches, give them the newspaper “Voice of Ukraine”, because we also add money to it. We will probably also include TV series from the 95th quarter for them, because we also give money for them. This, friends, is what we give, and what is immediate priority for us. It’s a shame, not the budget!” – said Goncharenko.
However, the 2024 budget was supported by 276 deputies.
At the same time, European Solidarity deputy Irina Gerashchenko noted that the prime minister was not at the meeting.
“Consideration of the draft state budget for 24th year. For the first time, there is no prime minister in the room, breaking a long-standing parliamentary tradition. In Shmygal’s place is Kolya Tishchenko. Complete degradation of parliament...,” she wrote in her tg channel.
“Servants, OPZZH, “Voice”, groups as a whole supported the budget for 24. The EU abstained. The prime minister was not present at the discussion of the draft budget.
This is not the budget of a warring country; funding for the Defense Ministry there is reduced by 6%, but funding for the GPU and other repressive bodies has been increased, leaving almost 2 billion for the marathon and 440 million for TV series. Instead of a counter-offensive, the servants finance the “cultural front,” Gerashchenko laments.
"This is not the budget of a country at war!": Ukraine's Ministry of Defense has had its funding cut.