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Ukraine approves 2017 state budget with focus on defense, welfare

Xinhua, December 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Ukrainian parliament early Wednesday adopted the 2017 state budget, which focuses on implementing defense and social welfare programs.

The budget, which was passed with the support of 274 out of 338 lawmakers, was described by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman as "people-oriented."

"We will fully cover the defense spending, support the agricultural sector, increase the salaries of teachers by 50 percent and the wages of medical workers by 30 percent. Also, we will allocate additional funds to provide free medicines to chronically ill people," Groysman said.

The budget document, posted on the parliament's website, estimates a 3-percent economic growth and an inflation of 8.1 percent in 2017.

The budget targets a deficit of 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017, down from a forecasted 3.7 percent in 2016.

The government aims to slightly boost budget revenues next year to 27.3 billion U.S. dollars through increasing the license duties on alcohol, tobacco and other domestically produced and imported licensable commodities.

The expenditures are projected to stand at 29.9 billion dollars, with the defense sector remaining as one of the main expenditures, accounting for 5.14 billion dollars or 5 percent of the GDP. Endi