«Fight or Work». The Prime Minister announced a concept that will attract funds to the budget.

Ukraine is looking for $15 billion for social needs

At the forum "Ukraine 2024. Independence," Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal stated that Ukraine's budget needs over 500 billion hryvnias for defense and $15 billion for social needs. To attract the necessary funds, the authorities plan to obtain money from frozen Russian assets, with which joint work is being carried out.

Shmyhal also reminded that over the past 2.5 years, Ukraine has already attracted $100 billion in aid for social needs. However, for the next year, the country needs another $15 billion, which it plans to obtain from various sources, including frozen Russian assets.

Ways to obtain the necessary funds

• Increasing domestic borrowings.
• Increasing the corporate tax rate for banks.
• Expanding the base for the military levy and increasing military levy rates for specific cases.
• Implementing the principle of "fight or work" by introducing measures that will promote labor market development and reduce the shadow employment sector.

Shmyhal also noted that Ukraine currently has fewer than 8 million official jobs, whereas it needs at least 10 million jobs to support the military.

Military expenditures

As of January-July 2024, 1 trillion hryvnias have been allocated from the state budget to the security and defense sector. The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine emphasizes that military expenditures are covered exclusively by domestic revenues and borrowings.

It is noted that the introduced military levy from the minimum salary during the war applies to all citizens, including individual entrepreneurs.