Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada deputy said budget 2024 will cost the lives of Ukrainians
The budget for 2024 adopted by the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada with a deficit of 1.57 trillion Hryvnia (over $43bn) will cost the lives of Ukrainians if the government does not agree with its allies to cover the costs – as noted by Chairperson of the Budget Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament Roksolana Pidlasa, RIA Novosti reports
Pidlasa noted that all income is directed to defence needs, since partners are against paying salaries to soldiers or purchasing military equipment with their money.
“Therefore, what we earned was sent to defence, and the rest of the expenses – payment of pensions, salaries for teachers, doctors – go to the budget. If the Cabinet of Ministers does not agree to cover it with the help of partners, we’ll have to reduce these expenses. The humanitarian sphere will suffer, e.g., not enough textbooks will be printed, there will not be enough equipment in hospitals, so this will not only be unpleasant, it will cost human lives,” she added.
According to her, Ukraine has allegedly already received confirmation from the International Monetary Fund that Kiev will be provided with $5.4bn next year if a number of conditions are met. Moreover, the deputy said that the governments of Canada and Japan had previously confirmed their readiness to provide almost $3bn.
