KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s parliament approved the 2023 draft budget at its first reading on Friday, a senior parliamentarian said.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the first deputy chairman of parliament’s finance, tax and customs policy committee, said parliament had given its initial approval at a session held behind closed doors.
The government will resubmit the budget for final approval after studying lawmakers’ proposals.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said last month the government expected a budget deficit of $38 billion next year that will be covered mainly by financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the United States and the European Union.
Shmyhal said he expected the United States to provide $18 billion and the EU and IMF to contribute $12 billion each towards helping to cover the deficit.
Ukraine’s economy has been devastated by Russia’s invasion, with the latest World Bank estimate in September pointing to a 30-35% contraction in gross domestic product (GDP) this year.
The country relies heavily on commodities exports, which have been hit hard by a drop in production due to fighting as well as limited export capacity.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
