Last week, the Government approved the draft State Budget for 2025. Today, this document was presented to the Verkhovna Rada. This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

According to him, budget revenues are expected to grow by almost 30% and expenditures by almost 20%.

"Defence and security of the country is a key priority. We are planning to budget UAH 2.2 trillion for the next year. We propose to increase the budget for weapons and military equipment by 65%. This is an uplift of almost UAH 300 billion. There will be much more Ukrainian missiles, drones, equipment, and shells," the Prime Minister stressed.

According to Denys Shmyhal, the Government will once again direct all taxpayers' money to finance military needs. Other priorities, such as social programmes, education, and healthcare, will be financed by our international partners.

The Head of Government said that next year, the need for external budget financing amounts to about USD 38 billion. Efforts are underway to raise these funds from various sources, including the IMF, the EU and all key partners.

"However, in order to fully close the entire budget deficit, it is necessary to finally use russian assets frozen in the West. Therefore, the main task now is to agree on a mechanism by which Ukraine will manage to receive USD 50 billion by the end of the year thanks to these frozen assets of the aggressor," Denys Shmyhal stressed.

The Prime Minister also thanked the Parliament, for supporting the Government's initiatives to increase spending on the Ukrainian army and defence this year.

"Almost UAH 500 billion will be additionally allocated to pay salaries to our military, to buy equipment and weapons, to build fortifications and other equipment that saves lives and brings our victory closer. Now we expect the Verkhovna Rada to adopt a draft law that will help cover these additional expenditures," the Prime Minister said.