The cost of maintaining the Armed Forces of Ukraine is about 2 trillion hryvnia ($54.7 billion) a year.
This information was announced on August 3 by the head of the government of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal.
This was reported by the agency “Ukrinform”.
How much Ukraine spends on the army
As Shmyhal said, supporting the army costs the country about 2 trillion hryvnias.
This is more than the revenue part of the peacetime budget, – said the head of the Ukrainian government.
According to the prime minister, in normal times, budget revenues amounted to 1.3 trillion hryvnias ($35.5 billion), now the country is supported by financial support from partners, loans and grants.
On July 21, Shmyhal reported that the country’s military spending for the first half of this year amounted to $18.09 billion, which exceeded the amount of taxes collected during this period.
Ukraine’s budget for this year had previously planned spending in the amount of 2.6 trillion hryvnia ($71.1 billion).
For security and military needs, the budget provided for 1.14 trillion hryvnia (31.2 billion dollars) – 43% of all expenditures (18.2% of GDP).
Allocations to the Defense Ministry have risen from 133.5 billion hryvnia ($3.65 billion) last year to 857.9 billion hryvnia ($23.46 billion) this year.
Ukraine’s budget for this year has a record deficit of $38 billion.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky expressed the hope that partners would help cover this deficit.
At the same time, Daniil Getmantsev, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Finance, admitted that the country cannot dispose of funds without the consent of partners.
On July 16, Shmyhal announced that since the beginning of the year, the West has provided Ukraine with over $23 billion to cover the budget deficit.
According to him, in the first half of this year, expenditures exceeded budget revenues by about $13 billion.
