The main financial document for 2011 was approved without significant changes

The parliament leveled the significance of the budget process: the country's main financial document for 2011 was adopted in just an hour and a half, without considering 2 thousand amendments and in the absence of opposition deputies, who demonstratively left the session hall. The document has undergone minor changes - in particular, expenses for the work of parliamentarians have been increased, and social expenses have been promised to be reviewed in the second quarter.

Yesterday, the Verkhovna Rada took only an hour and a half to approve the bill “On the State Budget for 2011” as a whole and introduce amendments to the Budget Code. For the second time this year, the main financial document of the state was adopted without discussion and voting for each amendment - in April, the coalition approved the 2010 budget in 10 minutes.

The day before, the Verkhovna Rada committee on budget issues considered over 1 thousand amendments out of 2 thousand received and rejected 707. As committee chairman Valery Baranov (Litvin’s bloc) told Kommersant, the deputies’ proposals increased budget expenses by UAH 180 billion: “They increased expenses, but did not offer sources of their financing." Apparently, this is why the committee rejected all opposition amendments. “I have been working in the budget committee for five years and this is the first time I have seen the Cabinet of Ministers ignore proposals from the opposition,” Oleg Lyashko was indignant in the session hall. “I can listen to the proposals of specialists, and not those who have done nothing for five years, engaging in populism,” Mr. Baranov explained to Kommersant the position of the committee. Deputies of the BYuT-Batkivshchyna and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense (NUNS) factions left the session hall.

The majority deputies supported the withdrawal of 50% of the proceeds from the personal income tax from the Kyiv budget. According to a member of the budget committee, Alexander Chernovolenko (NUNS), because of this, the capital will lose about 7 billion UAH (for more details about the reaction of the Kyiv City Council, see page 3). Speaker Vladimir Lytvyn objected that the day before the Cabinet of Ministers and the presidential administration, which were also “concerned about this problem,” agreed to return to this issue in 3 months. The parliamentarians also refused to oblige the Pension Fund and social funds to publish information on the implementation of their plans, and the Cabinet of Ministers to inform the Verkhovna Rada and the Accounts Chamber about the number of apartments distributed and data on the salaries of the president, prime minister and leadership of the National Bank. The government proposed increasing social payments at the inflation rate - 9%. Deputies did not dare to increase them more significantly, only obliging the Cabinet of Ministers after the first quarter to “make proposals on the possibilities of raising social standards.” Taking into account the socio-economic development for the first half of the year, it is hypothetically possible to increase expenses to compensate for depreciated savings and pay for utilities.

As a result, the budget parameters remained virtually unchanged. Revenues of the general fund will amount to UAH 238.5 billion, expenses - UAH 279.1 billion. Of all the proposals for the provision of state guarantees (UAH 15 billion), only a guarantee of UAH 500 million for the construction of a bridge in Zaporozhye was taken into account. A provision has been made to increase social assistance for low-income families by 60 UAH per child aged 3-13 years and by 100 UAH for children aged 13-18. Deputies increased expenses for their visits abroad, appearances in the media and the sanatorium-resort complex. Finance Minister Fyodor Yaroshenko boasted of increasing spending on the School Bus program, printing textbooks, treating children with cancer and fighting tuberculosis. “The budget will make it possible to implement reforms in 2011 and ensure stable growth of social guarantees and economic development,” he believes.

The opposition called the budget the worst ever. According to Alexander Chernovolenko, the document’s indicators are unfounded, the approach to financing local budgets has not changed, and the main managers of state funds remain the departments disbanded in connection with the administrative reform. “Representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers agreed on how to divide the budget money. We did not want to sit in the hall and sanctify the deriban with our presence,” Vladimir Bondarenko (BYuT), a member of the budget committee, told Kommersant.

Natalya Nepryakhina

The budget was adopted quickly