MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Ukraine’s budget deficit at the end of 2023 continued to increase, reaching a record 20.5% of GDP, or 1.33 trillion hryvnias ($35.1 billion), Sputnik calculations based on data from the Ukrainian National Bank and the country’s Open Budget system show.
The country’s revenues amounted to 2.7 trillion hryvnias and expenditures amounted to 4 trillion hryvnias in 2023, data show. Both indicators increased by about 1.5 times over the year, with the deficit growing by 46% year-on-year.
Last year, defense spending grew the most strongly — by 10 percentage points, to 52.3%. The only other item that showed growth was the housing and utilities sector, with expenditures growing by 0.2%. The rest of the expenditures decreased in 2023 compared to 2022, and the most serious decrease was in the social sphere — by 4.1 percentage points to 11.7%.
As per the Ukrainian National Bank’s estimations, the country’s GDP amounted to 6.5 trillion hryvnias in 2023.
Ukraine has been experiencing budget deficits for the past 30 years, with only two surplus years – 1992 and 2000. Previously, the biggest deficit was recorded in 2022 at 16.3 % of GDP.
