KIEV (Sputnik) — The law on 2017 state budget of Ukraine, that envisages 3 percent deficit of national GDP and a raise in defense expenditures to 5.2 percent of GDP from the last year's 5 percent was signed on Monday by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
“[The defense expenditures] are primarily focused on the funding of the Armed Forces of Ukraine including not only the fixation of financial, health, clothing and food security, but also the state defense order,” Poroshenko said in a statement published on the president's website.
Poroshenko also signed laws that raised minimum wage in the country to 3,200 hryvnias ($120) and increased the wages for state coal mining employees.
The 2017 state budget was approved by the Ukrainian parliament Verkhovna Rada on Wednesday with 274 out of 450 votes in favor. The Ukrainian government based the budget on a 8.1 percent inflation forecast.
The 2016 budget had a deficit of 3.7 percent GDP and an expected inflation rate of 12 percent.
