MP from the Opposition bloc, Serhiy Lovochkin, said this during a meeting with journalists in the corridors of the Verkhovna Rada on Friday, November 17.

He stressed that the Opposition bloc would not support the government draft State Budget – 2018, since it is a budget of war, debt burden and low social standards.

“The most important thing is that the war is financed by social standards. And the war is the most important challenge that exists today in Ukraine. While the war continues in the East of Ukraine, it is impossible to speak about the economic development, the development of the country, the improvement of social standards, and the improvement of people’s lives. Therefore, the Opposition bloc insists the cost of the war to be reduced and expenditures that support the normal life of the people to be increased,” the parliamentarian emphasized.

According to him, the debt burden on the economy is increasing again. “The debt burden increases on the economy, and accordingly – on people. Every Ukrainian already has a debt of almost UAH 50 000,” Serhiy Lovochkin stressed.

The politician stressed that the draft State Budget leaves Ukrainian citizens below the poverty line. “The minimum subsistence minimum calculated by the Ministry of Social Policy is more than UAH 3 800. And the minimum pension will be set at the end of 2018 in the amount of UAH 1 497, the minimum wage at the end of next year will also be less than the subsistence minimum for able-bodied – UAH 3723. This means that people will be below the poverty line and will not be able to afford elementary things. We can not agree with this, so we will vote against such a budget and insist the proposals of the Opposition bloc to be taken into account,” the MP said.

“Even the Law “On Education”, against which we voted and consistently advocate the fact that its linguistic norms should be abolished, provides for education expenditure at the level of 7% of GDP. The draft budget is 2.9% of GDP. Medical expenses should amount to 5% of GDP, and in the draft budget – less than 3%. This means that medicine in the local level will not receive proper funding. This leads to a decrease in social standards, a decrease in people’s access to education and medical services. Life becomes more complicated. Therefore, this budget is unacceptable, and we will not vote for it,” Serhiy Lovochkin concluded.