Arseniy Yatsenyuk: I will never allow reduction of budget expenditures to affect social standards

The Government of Ukraine advocates the adoption of a well-balanced budget: "We stand for the reduction of state budget expenditures. It should be a shared political responsibility of both the Government and the parliamentary coalition", views Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

"When cutting the budget expenses, as the Prime Minister, I will never support the reduction of social standards", stressed the Head of Government at the CMU session on Wednesday, November 4.

"Optimization of budgetary spending and increasing their efficiency are the issues that we are ready to discuss publicly", he said.

"Our stance is a well-balanced and calculated approach," he added.

The Head of Government singled out an issue of the draft state budget and the tax reform which, according to him, should be compliant with the reform plan, which was approved by the Government, signed by the President and the Prime Minister in the framework of the cooperation with the International Monetary Fund: "We must implement all the criteria and indicators that were defined in our program of reforms and correspond to the commitments of Ukraine to our international creditors."

Arseniy Yatsenyuk accentuated the Government is resolute not just to hold a public debate, but to take policy decisions both regarding the adoption of the new budget and of amendments to the tax law: "I emphasize policy decisions, rather than populist and poor decisions."

The Prime Minister promised that there were due negotiations on this issue with the President, parliamentary factions, the International Monetary Fund, foreign lenders and foreign partners.