Ukraine’s budget deficit at the end of 2023 reached a record 20.5% of GDP
Ukraine’s budget deficit at the end of last year continued to increase, reaching a record 20.5 per cent of GDP, according to RIA Novosti calculations based on data from the Ukrainian National Bank and the country’s Open Budget.
According to Ukraine’s budget data, the country’s revenues totaled 2.7 trillion hryvnias and expenditures totaled four trillion hryvnias. Both indicators grew by about one and a half times over the year. The deficit grew by 46 per cent to 1.33 trillion hryvnias, or $35.1 billion.
Defense spending grew the strongest last year, up 10 percentage points to 52.3%. The only other item that showed growth was housing and utilities (plus 0.2 per cent). The rest of the expenditures decreased, the most serious decrease was in the social sphere – by 4.1 percentage points to 11.7%.
So far, there has been no official estimate of Ukraine’s GDP for last year, but the National Bank of the country cited its own – 6.5 trillion hryvnias, or $171.2 billion. Based on this, Ukraine’s budget deficit was 20.5 per cent of GDP – a new all-time record.
In April 2023, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said that the Ukrainian budget deficit is about $5 billion every month, with two-thirds of the budget’s funds coming from foreign loans and grants, with three-quarters of spending on military needs.
Ukraine has been living with a budget deficit for the past 30 years, with only two surplus years – 1992 and 2000. Until last year, the record deficit was 16.3 per cent of GDP in 2022.
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