Budget Chronicles: 1st quarter, 2015

Suddenly, Ukraine’s fiscal condition improved significantly in the first quarter of 2015. Budget revenue increased by 25.0 percent year over year, and budget surplus reached 3.9 percent of GDP.

The consolidated budget’s revenue for the first quarter of 2015 totaled 140.3 billion UAH, which is 25.0 percent more than for the first quarter of 2014, due to devaluation, new taxes and increased rates, and some one-off payments.

The consolidated budget’s expenditure for the first quarter of 2015 were 126.0 billion UAH, which is 12.9 percent more than it was in the first quarter of 2014. Expenditure on debt service, defense, and municipal services increased; and expenditure on subsidies to businesses, public sector salaries, and social assistance shrank.

The fact that revenue was growing faster than expenditure helped to generate a consolidated budget’s surplus of UAH 14.0 billion (3.9 percent of GDP).

For more details about the execution of the budget in the first quarter of 2015, read our traditional report “Budget Chronicles: 1st Quarter, 2015”.