Minister of Finance of Ukraine Natalie Jaresko: The draft 2016 State Budget is system-based and well-balanced

On Tuesday, December 15, Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko presented a package of bills, including the draft State Budget, amendments to the tax legislation, those already submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

According to Natalie Jaresko, the proposed legislative changes are aimed to reduce the tax burden in the economy, to provide financing of all top priority needs of the state, to improve the efficiency and targeting of public expenditures and quality of services for the citizens, and not to exceed a target budget deficit 3.7% at that, having thus met the requirements to prolong cooperation with the IMF in the framework of the Extended Fund Facility.

"Work on the drafting of this package of laws has lasted rather long – after all we had to offer the society not a single bill, but a system-based, well-balanced package of documents to ensure high-quality structural changes in the estimated revenues and expenses of the budget. As a result, we agreed with the Government and submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a package of 7 bills, which contain an updated draft budget for 2016, as well as a number of crucial draft laws that determine the changes in revenue and expenditure components of the budget", noted in her statement the Minister of Finance.

"I believe that the elaborated changes to the legislation will create a stable basis for financial and economic stability. And thus we’ll return to a path of real economic growth, investment flows and people’s lives improvement", summed up Minister of Finance N. Jaresko.