Money for a marathon and sky-high salaries for officials: the committee recommended the Rada to adopt the budget for 2025

The Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has recommended that the Parliament adopt the draft law on the state budget for 2025 in the second reading.

This was announced by the chairman of the committee, Roksolana Pidlasa.

She noted that the changes made are minimal, and the key parameters remain in the government's version.

• The state budget will receive a loan from the United Kingdom in the amount of $2 billion (UAH 90 billion). They will be used for military spending, including the purchase of weapons. The funding is accounted for in the special fund for external borrowing and expenditures of the Ministry of Defense.
• Communities retained 64% of personal income tax (including military) to pay for utilities and energy. At the same time, the subvention to regional budgets to cover the tariff difference of UAH 12.2 billion was canceled.
• Frontline communities were allowed to temporarily not transfer reverse subsidies.
• Ukrzaliznytsia will receive UAH 128 million to co-finance a European railway infrastructure development project. This is a prerequisite for receiving additional European investment.
• The National Academy of Sciences will receive an additional UAH 277.1 million, including for military research.
• Political parties are prohibited from purchasing military domestic government bonds.
• The requirement for hospitals to keep funds on accounts with the Treasury, which was stipulated in the final provisions, has been excluded.

"The rest is as submitted by the government," wrote the head of the Budget Committee.

MP from Odesa Oleksiy Honcharenko commented on the recommendations of the parliamentary committee.

"My amendment to allocate the costs of road repairs to the army was not passed. Cashback, exorbitant salaries for some officials and other idiocies remain. The budget still has money for a marathon, but there is no increase in salaries and social benefits. This is a very bad budget that I definitely do not support," Honcharenko wrote.

Ірина Глухова