The State Budget has been underfulfilled by UAH 17.5 billion for the first ten months of 2018. According to Deputy Chair of the Opposition Bloc faction Serhiy Lovochkin, the situation resulted from the government's incompetence, manifested both in planning and fulfilling the budget.

“The State Budget for ten months has not been implemented. It failed to receive the planned 17.5 billion, which is 2.3 percent of the total amount. Moreover, the budget deficit has become a stable phenomenon that has been observed throughout 2018. It means this is not just an accidental failure, but systemic deficiencies resulting from the government's incompetence, manifested both in planning and fulfilling the budget,” Lovochkin stated.

The politician reminded that in the first quarter the plan for revenues of the general fund of the State Budget was underfulfilled by 3.1 percent, in the first half of the year – by 3.5 percent, for nine months – 2.7 percent.

“For the first nine months, UAH 44.6 billion revenues from the excess of income over NBU expenses were transferred to the budget. Revenues from the National Bank in the State Budget 2018 are not expected, since it has already transferred the entire amount of profit, which was approved by the decision of the NBU Council for this year,” he explained.

Also, according to Lovochkin, in January-September 2018, the Ministry of Finance has already received payment for 4G licenses in the amount of UAH 8 billion. Such income in 2018 is not planned.

“The dynamics of taxes and payments from imports also lagged behind the planned figures. According to the State Treasury, the customs authorities failed to fulfill the plan for the general fund revenues in January-September 2018 by 1.5 percent, underfunding UAH 3.7 billion,” Lovochkin noted. He believes this revealed the deficiencies in budget planning for 2018, which the Opposition Bloc stated when discussing it.

“We insisted on a significant increase in investments in manufacturing industry, which in the second half of the year could have given impetus to production growth and, accordingly, to an increase in tax revenues. But the authorities chose to increase funding for law enforcement agencies and the state apparatus, that is, to increase the share of unproductive current expenses, instead of development expenses,” the politician stated.

In addition to unprofessional planning, the government is not able to organize proper tax administration: since the beginning of the year, the debt on VAT refunds has grown, reaching UAH 17.8 billion, and the amount of tax debts of enterprises as of Oct. 1 has exceeded UAH 97.2 billion, increasing by 5.7 billion since the beginning of the year.

“Moreover, state-owned companies are the biggest debtors,” the politician added.

“In the current situation, the concerns are not only the implementation of the current State Budget, but also the financial plan for the next year. The Accounting Chamber has stated that the draft State Budget 2019 contains overstated plans for revenues. Without a change in the systemic approach of budget allocation in favor of increasing spending on economic development, next year’s budget will be just as unsuccessful as the current one,” Lovochkin concluded.