Head of budget committee expects to consider amendments to state budget-2021 on Sept 23

KYIV. Sept 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Head of the parliamentary committee on budget Yuriy Aristov expects to consider the bill No. 6052 with amendments to the state budget-2021 on Thursday, September 23, and also plans to propose to vote for it at the first reading and in general, he told Interfax-Ukraine.

"All bills that concern the state budget are a compromise of opinions of a number of parties: MPs, factions, ministries, the president, and so on. Our first task was to balance these interests and submit the bill as soon as possible. So I hurried to do it on September 14. The second task is to accept it as soon as possible," Aristov said.

The head of the committee hopes to reduce the deadlines for submitting alternative documents.

"If there is a positive vote of the Verkhovna Rada, then, taking into account the deadlines and regulations, I will be able to put this law on consideration and vote at a meeting of the budget committee on Wednesday. I hope that the committee MPs will support it unanimously," he said. "On Thursday, I will ask the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada to submit the bill for voting in the hall," Aristov said.

He intends to appeal to the heads of factions to vote for the bill at the first reading and in general, and if the parliament makes such a decision – to appeal to the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov to sign the document immediately.

"I hope that all factions will support it, because we all understand that subsidies for communal services are needed ‘for yesterday’, we cannot afford to adopt this bill in a month of debate. And not only subsidies, almost all social benefits are needed ‘for yesterday," Aristov said.

However, he said that if the Committee supports the bill on Wednesday, and all the factions – on Thursday, there is a high chance that in October, people will be able to benefit all these resources.

"We have an overfulfillment of UAH 39.4 billion. It is impossible to satisfy all applications for additional financing, there will always be those who did not receive the funds or did not receive it in the desired amount. We have chosen what, in our opinion, most urgently requires funding now," the MP said.

The MP believes that the bill keeps the balance of spending on consumption and investment in development.

"There is an important point: the state must not only consume, but also build. We spend money on salaries, social benefits and so on, but it is strategically important to allocate money for development – in the long perspective, it makes jobs, taxes and so on. It is correct to discuss the proportions of funds for development and consumption. When you spend UAH 15 billion on development, as in our bill, and UAH 24 billion on consumption, I believe that this is a perfectly normal balance for the state," he said.

Answering the question about additional financing of the National Health Service (NHSU), Aristov said: "The deficit of UAH 2 billion appeared at the NHSU, as funds were taken for the purchase of vaccines. UAH 6.5 billion was taken, about UAH 3 billion returned for the first time. now we compensate another UAH 2 billion. But the deficit will still persist. Moreover, if the pandemic intensifies, we will have to allocate more funds, we will follow the situation."