The Verkhovna Rada Committee recommended that the Parliament adopt the draft State Budget-2026 with a number of amendments in the first reading
The Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee recommended that the parliament adopt the draft State Budget for 2026 in the first reading and proposed a number of changes in the areas of defense, education, healthcare, social protection, and business support. This was reported by Roksolana Pidlasa, the head of the Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee.
In the defense sector, it is proposed to increase spending on armaments for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as on providing the “Alpha” unit of the SBU and the Foreign Intelligence Service. In the field of education, the committee advocates the creation of a new model of remuneration for secondary school teachers and a phased increase of 50% in the salaries of pedagogical and scientific-pedagogical employees of higher education institutions from January 1 of next year. In addition, it is proposed to allocate 500 million hryvnias for the material and technical support of universities that have been relocated from frontline areas.
Regarding medicine, the committee considers it necessary to consider the possibility of allocating additional funds for the purchase of medicines for patients with achondroplasia, autoimmune diseases of the nervous system and neuromuscular diseases, supplementing the 15.1 billion hryvnias already included in the budget. The Ministry of Health is proposed to be designated as responsible for all public investment projects in the field of healthcare and to increase their funding by 500 million hryvnias.
For local budgets, it is recommended to use the State Statistics Service’s data on the population and information from the Ministry of Social Policy on the number of internally displaced persons when calculating horizontal alignment indicators for 2026. Separately, the committee raised the issue of repaying the debt from the difference in tariffs and the possibility of transferring 4% of the personal income tax (except for military personal income tax) to community budgets.
In the social sphere, the government is proposed to submit a bill on special pensions and increase funding for programs to provide housing for internally displaced persons.
Regarding business support, the committee recommends directing at least 2 billion hryvnias to humanitarian demining of agricultural lands, allocating 1 billion hryvnias to partial compensation for business property losses due to the war, and providing additional funding for grant programs for entrepreneurs, in particular for the construction of vegetable and potato storage facilities, support for veterans in starting their own businesses, and the development of programs to assist agricultural producers.
It is expected that the first reading of the draft budget will take place on October 21-22.
