Distinguished colleagues, fellow Ukrainians.
First of all, I would like to thank our Parliament, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, and the people's deputies who this week supported the Government's initiatives to increase spending on our army and defence this year.
Almost UAH 500 billion will be allocated to pay salaries to our military, to buy equipment and weapons, to build fortifications and other supplies that save lives and bring our victory closer.
Now we expect the Verkhovna Rada to adopt a draft law that will help cover these additional expenditures
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The Government meanwhile approved the draft State Budget for 2025. Today, this document has been presented at the Verkhovna Rada.
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 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.
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Next year, the need for external budget financing amounts to about USD 38 billion.
We exert every effort to raise these funds from various sources. We prolong our cooperation with the IMF. We continue the Ukraine Facility with the EU. We maintain cooperation with all our key partners to ensure that we have the necessary resources.
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.
We keep actively moving this process forward. There is a political decision of the G7 countries. Today, during a meeting in Kyiv with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, we shall discuss the details of how we can speed up the necessary decisions. We expect positive news in this regard.
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We are grateful to all our partners who are helping Ukraine withstand a much larger and stronger enemy.
In the meantime, we are working to strengthen the Ukrainian economy. And one of the key areas here is the agricultural sector.
Ukrainian farmers have already harvested about 40 million tonnes of new crops.
This year's wheat harvest was about 22 million tonnes. Domestic consumption is about 6 million tonnes. That is, Ukraine harvested almost four times more wheat than the domestic consumption. This allows us to remain a guarantor of food security for many countries.
The Government, for its part, continues to provide support to Ukrainian farmers and producers in various areas.
Since the beginning of the year, UAH 31.5 billion of affordable loans under the 5-7-9 programme have been issued to almost 6,500 farms.
We also have positive news about the eRobota grant programme. More than UAH 1 billion of non-refundable grants have already been issued for planting new gardens and building greenhouses.
We help farmers in the de-occupied territories. We pay UAH 8,000 of non-refundable aid per hectare for farmers who cultivate up to 120 hectares.
We offer a 30% discount from Ukrzaliznytsia for rail transport to export agricultural products from the frontline areas.
We continue to support Ukrainian producers.
A programme of compensation to farmers for the purchase of Ukrainian-made agricultural machinery is in place. Over the first 4 months of the programme's operation, more than 850 units of machinery have been purchased for more than UAH 900 million. The state has compensated UAH 153 million.
The agricultural land demining market is also gaining momentum. We already have applications for demining nearly 5,000 plots with a total area of over 21,000 hectares. The first auctions are taking place in the Prozorro system.
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This week, Prozorro.Sale has also held the first auction of the Great Privatisation programme.
Hotel Ukraina in the centre of Kyiv was sold for over UAH 3 billion including VAT. The price rose 2.5 times during the auction.
Transparent privatisation is not only about filling the budget, but also about new business opportunities. It is a new life for old facilities. It means investments and new jobs.
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I thank everyone who invests in Ukraine. I thank everyone who works. I thank everyone who is fighting for a better future for our country.
Thank you for your attention. Glory to Ukraine!