The main task of the Parliament for this summer is to pass a balanced state budget for 2019, Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Feldman notes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the one hand, it must be socially oriented, but on the other hand, it must be realistic and economically feasible. The election campaign, that has de facto started, can hinder this by increasing populism to the highest degree. However, no one cancels the budget passing task for sensible political forces. Eventually, life does not end after the elections in 2019, and it is just irresponsible to form the main estimate of the country based on the principle \u2018After us, the flood\u2019.<\/p>\n
The government presented the main parameters of the draft budget: some aspects may be called as its advantages; however, there are significant defects as well.<\/p>\n
I would like to start from the positive tendencies. First, it is the reduction of expenditures (from 4% to 11%) on central authorities \u2013 the President, the Government, and Verkhovna Rada. What irritates the most is that people are offered to tighten their belts, while the authorities obtain excess profits and bonuses of many millions. That is why saving on administrative apparatus is a right vector.<\/p>\n
Second, the offered increase in minimum wages (+12%, reaching \u20b44,173 in 2019) is almost twice above the level of inflation (7.4%). Of course, I also think that \u20b44,200 is a very low sum, but \u201ceconomy does not believe in tears,\u201d and it is just impossible to use a magic wand to make minimum wages at the level of \u20b4 10,000. When I hear these calls from my colleagues in the Parliament, I immediately think about 1990s and hyperinflation. In the end, every populism results in tremendous consequences for everyone.<\/p>\n
However, I was perplexed by three budget novations I do not agree with.<\/p>\n
First, it is the \u201csuspended decentralization.\u201d Politically it started to develop in 2018, when the Central Election Commission made everything possible to block the elections in united communities. Now, the budget decentralization is de facto stopped as well. In 2018, the \u20b45 million subvention was planned for local budgets aimed at social and economic development. The draft budget 2019 contains no similar article at all. The grants to local budgets are de facto reduced by 5% (taking inflation into account). One may say that there is no connection between grants\/subventions and decentralization, but the authorities made nothing for local councils to keep in 2019 more of earned means in their budgets. This means the following trend: give the same amounts as before to the centre, while obtain less in return.<\/p>\n
Second, I do not understand the combination of the announced increase in gas rates (25-40%) and the 20% reduction of subsidy fund. I have emphasized many times that Ukraine\u2019s strategic goal is the society of responsible owners, where only 5-7% of the population needs subsidies. But now, we have a real situation: while a half of the country is not able to pay these overstated rates, how is it possible to reduce subsidies and increase gas prices? Until the government explains its logic to the lawmakers, I doubt that the draft budget will be supported in this version.<\/p>\n
Third, the authorities are still not able to solve the problem of \u2018the debt pit,\u2019 where Ukraine is driven into by international creditors. It is planned to allocate nearly 40% of all budget expenditures on the external debt servicing and repayment in 2019. Meanwhile, the deficit of the Pension Fund will be the record one for the entire period of independence \u2013 \u20b4166.5 billion. It should be noted that the government indicated the balance between expenditures and incomes as a long-term goal of the pension reform. By the policy of \u201cexpensive external credits\u201d and the slowdown of reforms, the authorities put the present-day Ukrainian taxpayers and youth into the debt bondage for decades ahead. What result should we expect? Another wave of emigration and, consequently, the intensification of tax pressure on those who stay.<\/p>\n
I hope very much that during the elaboration of the budget by the Cabinet of Ministers, the opinions and valid claims of lawmakers will be taken into account. And the main thing is that as a result, we will have a real state budget instead of a political tool of election campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"