Ukrainian cabinet to discuss 2016 draft budget with parliament

The Ukrainian government will discuss the country's draft budget for 2016 with the parliamentary coalition before officially approving it, Deputy Prime Minister Gennady Zubko said Tuesday.

"We have already transferred the budget proposals to the heads of parliamentary factions to involve the coalition into the working process," Zubko told reporters.

He said that the transparent system of draft budget discussions will help improve understanding between the cabinet and the parliament and speed up the final endorsement of the document.

The Ukrainian government and parliament have different approaches for the 2016 budget plan due to opposite views on implementation of the tax reform, which is expected to enter into force next year.

While lawmakers proposed to raise budget revenues from taxes by 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 and implement a series of austerity measures to partially fill the budget gap, the cabinet offered a tax hike of about 8.4 billion dollars along with increased welfare spending.

On Monday, the Finance Ministry unveiled the country's draft budget for 2016, which met a deficit target of 3.7 percent of the gross domestic product agreed with the International Monetary Fund.

According to the draft, Ukraine's budgetary spending will total 28.1 billion dollars next year, an increase of 15.8 percent from 2015, while incomes will rise 15.7 percent to 24.9 billion dollars.

The document, forecasting a 2 percent economic growth next year, needs to be approved by the government and then ratified by the parliament to come into effect. Endit