Yanukovych says he will sign state budget for 2013 after he studies document
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said that he will decide whether to sign the state budget for 2013 only after he studies the document.
He told reporters in New Delhi on Monday that he had studied the draft budget after it was adopted by the government.
"But after it was considered in parliament, I do not know what amendments were introduced. If there are no significant differences there, as soon as an expert group examines it and draws conclusions, only then I will definitely say whether I will sign it or not," Yanukovych said.
"I haven't currently seen it [the state budget]," he said.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada passed Ukraine's draft state budget for 2013 after adding to the document minor amendments proposed by the budget committee, and passed unchanged the main figures in the document. Some 242 of the 351 MPs registered in the session hall supported this decision.
According to the proposals of the parliament's budget committee, some UAH 1.9 billion of the expenditures of the general fund of the state budget were rearranged, while the revenues and expenditures of the special fund were raised by UAH 1.42 billion.
The draft budget for 2013 submitted by the government, envisaged revenues in 2013 at UAH 361.51 billion, which is 3% less than the indicator set for 2012, while the expenditures forecast in the budget for 2013 were reduced by 1%, to UAH 410.661 billion. The revenues of the general fund were estimated at UAH 315.22 billion, and expenses at UAH 363.65 billion.
The document also foresaw that excess of loans (UAH 13.38 billion) from the national budget on their return (UAH 12.1 billion) will amount to UAH 1.28 billion.
The deficit of the 2013 national budget was approved at the level of UAH 50.43 billion (3.2% of forecast GDP), which is 30% more than the target set for 2012.
On December 10, the Verkhovna Rada submitted the law on Ukraine's state budget for 2013 to Yanukovych for signature.