Ukraine’s Rada approves $10 billion defense spending hike
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada approved in the first reading bill No. 13439-3, amending the state budget on July 16, with 257 MPs voting in favor, according to Liga.
The bill increases defense and security spending by over 400 billion hryvnias ($9.55 billion).
“These budget changes primarily focus on increasing defense spending,” said Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the budget committee, during the session.
“Of the 450 billion hryvnias ($10.74 billion) proposed by the government, 412.5 billion ($9.85 billion) will go to defense, including nearly 216 billion ($5.16 billion) for weapons and equipment procurement.”
She described the government’s bill as balanced and realistic.
Due to the recent change in the Cabinet of Ministers, lawmakers voted on an alternative version of the bill.
The Ministry of Finance specified that the increased general fund expenditures for the security and defense sector are allocated as follows: Ministry of Defense (311 billion hryvnias ($7.42 billion)), Ministry of Internal Affairs (84 billion hryvnias ($2.01 billion)), Main Intelligence Directorate (4.5 billion hryvnias ($107 million)), Security Service of Ukraine (1.6 billion hryvnias ($38 million)), State Guard Administration (0.5 billion hryvnias ($$12 million billion)), and State Special Communications Service (0.06 billion hryvnias ($1.43 million)). The remaining funds are allocated to the special fund.
“The need to amend the 2025 state budget is driven by the necessity to provide the Armed Forces with additional weapons, ammunition, and military equipment,” the Ministry stated.
An additional 26 billion hryvnias ($621 million) were allocated to the budget’s reserve fund for unforeseen and urgent expenses. Another 15.5 billion hryvnias ($370 million) were designated for other pressing needs, including the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Education and Science, and Ministry of Health.
The total expenditure in the proposed 2025 budget amendments amounts to 457 billion hryvnias ($10.91 billion). The increase will be financed through higher-than-planned tax revenues, increased state bond placements, reduced debt payments, and cuts to certain expenditures.
2024 state budget expenditures totaled 3.49 trillion hryvnias ($83.3 billion).
In January 2025, Ukraine’s state budget revenues reached 282.8 billion hryvnias ($6.75 billion), including 128.2 billion hryvnias ($3.06 billion) in the general fund, up 83.4% and 10.5%, respectively, from January 2024.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that Ukraine’s defense spending will rise to 26% of GDP in 2025.
Total general fund cash expenditures for January-February 2025 amounted to 538.2 billion hryvnias ($12.85 billion), a 26.7% increase (113.4 billion hryvnias ($2.78 billion)) compared to the same period last year.
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