The problems of the state budget have grown into a systemwide crisis. This was stated by OPPOSITION PLATFORM — FOR LIFE MP Serhiy Lovochkin commenting on the State Treasury data on budget’s general fund shortfall of 11.6 percent in August.

“The general fund of the state budget fell short of the plan in August by 11.2bln hryvnia, or 11.6 percent. Since early 2019, budget income fell short of the target by 30.6bln hryvnia. This is a systemwide crisis now, hitting education, healthcare, culture, and economy support the most,” Lovochkin said.

The MP cited data for the first seven months of 2019: the general fund expenses on economy support fell short by one third (5.9bln hryvnia off the plan), on culture and sports by 26 percent (1.6bln hryvnia), on healthcare by 20.2 percent (4.5bln hryvnia), on education by 14 percent (3.2bln hryvnia). The total shortfall of the general fund expenses has reached 48.4bln hryvnia.

“The catastrophe with the budget revenue flow in August was mostly caused by the failure of the customs office, which underperformed on its monthly plan by 19.6 percent. This is another evidence of the systemwide crisis, because the performance of the state budget must not depend on the national currency rate fluctuations. Obviously, Ukraine desperately needs to increase its income from manufacturing enterprises, but for that, it also needs much more funds invested in economy support instead of cutting them,” the politician said.

“We’re in a vicious cycle: manufacturing industry proceeds fail to grow due to lack of the state support, and the state support cannot be increased as long and the budget lacks funds. The only way to break the cycle is to create foreign policy conditions for economy revival. Negotiating lower gas price with Gazprom directly and restoring access for Ukrainian goods to all neighboring markets are the tasks for the new administration. For that purpose, OPPOSITION PLATFORM — FOR LIFE has developed fundamental practices and gathered a team of professionals united by the desire to work for the benefit of the country. If these proposals are accepted, we’ll be able to significantly increase funding of social expenses and economy support in the draft state budget 2020,” Lovochkin said.