• Українська
  • Русский
  • English
Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Has the Premier Done What He Said He Would?

3 November, 1998 - 00:00


The government has submitted to Parliament its bill on the State Budget
of Ukraine for 1999 and the Cabinet's Action Program. It should be reminded
that the budget and the Cabinet's program were submitted to the Verkhovna
Rada in great haste after the reaction by the Communists and their fellow
travelers, who walked out.

In any country, the budget is a result of a complicated trade-off between
the executive and legislative branches. In the case of Ukraine, you should
add also add IMF requirements, lobbying by individual industrial and financial
entities, and the upcoming presidential elections. Multiply this by the
economic crisis and you will get not just a complicated, but a labyrinthine
situation.

The basic budget figures were set at Hr 23,089,442,600 in revenues and
Hr 23,769,442,600 in expenditures, with the resulting budget deficit coming
in at Hr 680 million (or 0.6% of GDP, expected to be Hr 117.5 billion).

The calculation of the budget figures was based on an average exchange
rate of Hr 3.82 per US dollar.

It is expected that the issues stirring up the most heated discussion
in Parliament will be the size of the budget deficit (Deputies believe
it should be not less than 4-5%), subsidies to local budgets (the bill
provides for their substantial reduction), and social benefits.

However, the budget parameters can hardly be taken seriously, taking
into account the urgency in submitting the bill. However, even these less
than serious figures are likely to provoke a serious battle. Currently,
it may be predicted that the budget will, sooner or later, be adopted (otherwise
the President and Premier will accuse Parliament of blocking the executive's
overcoming the crisis), and the Cabinet's program will not be adopted,
because if adopted, it would not make it possible to dismiss the government
within a year. And nobody will give the executive such handsome gift on
the eve of presidential elections.

 

 

 

 

Rubric: