Poroshenko signs law on Ukraine's state budget for 2015

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the law on Ukraine's state budget for 2015.

A report posted on the official website of the head of state says that Poroshenko signed the law late on Wednesday, December 31.

The Verkhovna Rada adopted the law at around 05.00 on December 29. A total of 233 lawmakers voted for bill No. 1000, which was submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said in his presentation of the budget law that the government would submit budget law amendments to the parliament by February 15 after negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international financial organizations.

"A number of articles will be amended depending on the results of negotiations with foreign creditors," he said, noting that the negotiations are scheduled to start on January 7.

Yatseniuk says that the key goal of the passed budget for 2015 is to finance national security and defense. In his words, UAH 80 billion has been allocated for security and defense alone. In addition to them, UAH 1.8 billion will be spent on new mobilization of servicemen, UAH 2.9 billion on other security and defense agencies, and UAH 6.9 billion as state guarantees for the production and repairs of military hardware by Ukroboronprom's enterprises.

"In general, the total amount of spending on national security and defense will be UAH 90 billion," Yatseniuk said.