The Government will approve the draft state budget for 2022 at its session on September 15 and immediately submit it to Parliament. This was announced at the media conference on September 14 by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. The Head of Government also added that, like last year, the budget would be balanced and fair.

"One of the critical novelties of the budget, which is based on the decree of the President of Ukraine, is that we fixed the minimum salary of a doctor at UAH 20,000, while the minimum salary of nurses - at UAH 13,500. Accordingly, the average salary of a doctor next year will exceed UAH 22,500. In general, the average monthly salary in Ukraine next year will make up almost UAH 15,500," told Denys Shmyhal.

The Prime Minister also drew attention to important social initiatives included in the draft budget. In particular, it is planned to provide housing for ATO participants with the status of internally displaced persons, for whom the draft budget contains the amount worth UAH 5,500,000,000. Also, from January 1, 2022, the minimum scholarship for students of higher educational institutions will grow to UAH 2,000 while scholarships for students of vocational educational institutions will increase 2.5 times.

"Budget expenditures will increase by more than UAH 100 billion. The budget deficit is to decrease from 5.5% this year to 3.5% next year. The Government's strategy is to reduce the deficit and public debt, as well as reformat it with an emphasis on domestic rather than external borrowing," the Prime Minister stressed.

According to the draft budget, the state budget revenues in 2022 will amount to UAH 1,277 billion, which is UAH 161 billion more than in 2021. Expenditures of the state budget will amount to UAH 1,465 billion.

According to Denys Shmyhal, the budget's priorities remain to increase funding for the army, infrastructure, healthcare, education, and social programs. The Prime Minister also stressed that for the first time in history, the budget had been formed on the basis of a budget declaration for 3 years, which ensures it being realistic.