Rada passes 2015 budget on condition it is reviewed by Feb 15 after talks with IMF

The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada has passed a law on the national budget for 2015.

The law submitted by the Ukrainian government was passed last night by 233 deputies, among them 120 from the Poroshenko Bloc, 81 from the People's Front, 17 from Oleh Liashko's Radical Party, ten from Samopomich and five independent deputies. Deputies of the Opposition Bloc and Batkivschyna factions and both parliamentary groups, People's Will and Economic Development, did not support the bill.

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.