Ukraine prioritizes economic development, defence in 2018 budget

KIEV, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian government on Thursday has unveiled the country's draft budget for 2018, declaring the economic development and the defence needs as the top government priorities for next year.

The draft, published on the government's website, said that agriculture, road construction, decentralization, energy efficiency, education, science, healthcare and culture will be other areas in focus for the cabinet.

The projected budget is based on the expected economic growth of 3 percent and inflation of 9 percent.

According to the draft, the growth will allow the government to increase the minimum wages, subsidies and other welfare payments to people.

Ukraine's spending on defense this year is expected to remain at five percent of the country's gross domestic product and reach 6.09 billion U.S. dollars.

The government also targets to slash the budget deficit to 2.4 percent next year from an estimated 3 percent in 2017. Enditem