The state budget lacks funds to fully finance the Defense Forces of Ukraine due to assumptions about improvement in the security situation, increased spending on the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and a delay in the receipt of military aid from allies, said the head of the Finance Committee, Danylo Hetmantsev.
He explained that the state budget was adopted based on a macroeconomic forecast, which predicted a slowdown in military operations from the second half of 2024. The same assumption was made in all forecasts and scenarios: quarterly forecasts by the National Bank and in the EFF program.
In addition, due to the delay in military aid from the US at the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Finance had to increase spending on the purchase of ammunition and military equipment. Therefore, in four months, direct expenditures on defense reached ₴577.2B ($14.4B), which is 43.4% of the plan for the year, while planned expenditures were 33.3%.
Hetmantsev hopes that part of the gap will be closed by the partners’ military assistance and the state’s planned tax increases.