The social sector accounts for the lion's share of budget expenses / Photo from UNIAN
Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko says that the ministry has found ways to reduce budget expenses by more than UAH 60 billion compared to the framework budget drafted for 2016.
"Having analyzed all the items of the budget together with the prime minister and the president, we've found ways to reduce the outlay by more than UAH 60 billion compared to the framework of the draft budget, but we'll need broad support from lawmakers and the public to implement these changes," Jaresko wrote in her column on economic news portal Ekonomichna Pravda.
In her words, social spending accounts for the largest share of the expenses. "We have no right to decrease social protection of those groups of the population who need this most of all. The only way to reduce spending in that sphere is to boost its efficiency through verification, targeted assistance and help to those citizens who really need the support," she said.
"To ensure further strengthening of Ukraine's defense sector, we plan to raise defense expenses by another UAH 10 billion in monetary terms compared to 2015 within the decisions taken by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine," Jaresko said.
At the same time, she noted, the government will be able to reduce the budget deficit without borrowing money at a frenetic pace, which will help ease the debt burden on the country in the near-term outlook.
"Economic activity. This includes spending on roads, agriculture, the energy sector. We have been actively reviewing the structure of those expenses and would like to considerably raise their effectiveness," the minister said.
As for the health sector, major austerity measures there should focus on a considerable improvement in the quality of services provided by the state and transition to financing of services and results rather than "beds and square meters in cold and dark hospital premises."
"We should also significantly reduce the size of state employees, although we won't be able to save much on that, as all the spending on the government, including salaries, heating and maintenance of administrative buildings across the country accounts for a mere 3.8% of all the expenses of the consolidated budget," she wrote.
"Therefore, next week we'll be able to table a package of bills in parliament, including a draft budget, a draft bill on tax reform and a number of legislative acts regarding reforms in different segments of state expenses. We will propose that all these expenses be reduced through optimization and concentration of state resources," she said.