After making changes to the state budget for 2025, which provide for additional financing of the national security and defense sector in the amount of 412.4 billion hryvnias, the total volume of expenditures in this sphere will amount to 2.6 trillion hryvnias, which is equal to 66% of all budget expenditures. About this reported Head of the Parliamentary Budget Committee, Roksolana Pidlas.
In the end, as Pidlasa notes, defense spending will amount to about 31.1% of the projected GDP for 2025, which will once again put Ukraine in first place in the world by this indicator. She gave the example of Israel, which, according to SIPRI, spends 8.8% of GDP on defense, which is significantly less.
“Ukraine mobilizes all this resource independently – through its own income and internal borrowing, because, with the exception of Great Britain, international partners currently do not allow us to use their assistance for the needs of the sector.” – reminded Podlasa.
She also questioned the validity of such an approach on the part of partners, recalling that Russia’s military budget is 140-150 billion dollars, which is almost 2.5 times larger than Ukraine’s defense budget.
We will remind you that on July 16, the Verkhovna Rada supported in the first reading draft law No. 13439-3 “On Amendments to the Law “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2025″ regarding the financial provision of the security and defense sector and the resolution of priority issues.”
The document provides for an increase in state budget expenditures by 405.49 billion hryvnias, which is 8 billion more than the government proposed. Additional funding will mainly be withdrawn from the budget of the capital and sent to the Reserve Fund of the Cabinet of Ministers. Taking into account the changes in other areas, the total expenses for the security and defense sector will increase by 412.4 billion hryvnias, of which almost 402 billion will come from the general fund of the state budget.
