Photo from UNIAN
The draft national budget for 2019 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on September 15.
Ukraine's draft national budget for 2019, which was submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on September 14, provides for cuts in expenditures for subsidies to Ukrainian households to compensate housing and utilities costs by UAH 15.9 billion (US$565 million), to UAH 55.1 billion ($1.9 billion), compared to the national budget for 2018.
The draft national budget for 2019 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on September 15, according to an announcement on the parliament's website.
Read alsoCabinet forecasts hryvnia forex rate against U.S. dollar by late 2019
The first draft of the national budget for 2018 stipulated UAH 55.1 billion in subsidies. However, it was finally decided to allocate UAH 71 billion ($2.5 billion).
When presenting Ukraine's draft national budget for 2019 on September 14, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said that monetization of subsidies and pension upgrade would be carried out in Ukraine.
As UNIAN reported, Ukrainian Social Policy Minister Andriy Reva earlier said UAH 7 billion ($251.3 million) might be needed additionally to pay subsidies to Ukrainian households to compensate housing and utilities costs before the end of 2018 under the worst-case scenario. That is an increase in prices of natural gas for household, which is a condition of the International Monetary Fund for the allocation of a new disbursement.
UNIAN memo. Expenditures of the national budget for subsidies to Ukrainian households to compensate housing and utilities costs were estimated at UAH 8.863 billion ($315 million) in 2014, UAH 18.414 billion ($655 million) in 2015, UAH 47.081 billion ($1.7 billion) in 2016, UAH 68.794 billion ($2.4 billion) in 2017, and UAH 70.993 billion ($2.5 billion) in 2018.