30 thousand to the military. Will the canceled payments and where will take money
In the face of war, this issue is very sensitive to the defenders and the public, which favorably supports the Armed Forces. But paradoxically, the indignation caused the abolition of the government resolution of January 20, 2023 No. 43, and the subsequent renewal of payments by making amendment to Bill No. 8312, for which the parliamentarians voted on April 10, 2023, which will be discussed in detail.
"On February 28, 2022, the Government in the fever of the first days of the war made a decision to pay 30 thousand UAH per month to all servicemen and security officers. The price of the question was about 50 billion UAH There was no payment then, " - reminds Gleb Vyshlinsky, executive director of the CES (Center for Economic Strategy).
Vyshlinsky adds that already in the summer of 2022, due to the large -scale monetary financing of the budget deficit and the devaluation of the hryvnia, the government began to revise the decision of February 28, since the amount of expenses only for cash security of the Armed Forces, according to official data, exceeded UAH 70 billion per month. .
"They were not mentioned directly about the shortage of funds, because the authorities did not love the unpleasant things before the war, but during the war - especially," Gleb Vyshlinsky continues. "Finally, in July 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs abolished payments to police officers and other employees outside the area hostilities, and the Ministry of Defense then decided not to touch.
In February 2023, the abolition of allowances for servicemen actually became a continuation of administrative cuts of budget expenditures. " Rostislav Kravets, lawyer, senior partner of the Kravets and Partners of the Bar and Partners specify that the payments provided for the CMU Resolution No. 168 of February 28, 2022, which has been repeatedly made since its adoption.
"Canceling the allowance, the Government was guided by the issues of reducing budget expenditures at the expense of servicemen and, first of all, payments were taken to cadets, judicial services and those who are not involved directly in the fighting, which they put their families on the survival rate" , - the tailor continues. "Those who write that they are" deep typovists "do not know what the army is," said the People's Deputy Victoria Sumar. 20 thousand UAH.
The same applies to doctors, logists, instructors. " And Sergei Lysenko, a lawyer, managing partner of Gracers law firm, advised not to forget that a warrior who is not in direct fighting clashes, while his family remained alone with financial problems at home. Accordingly, those additional funds have often remained the only help that a serviceman could provide his loved ones. In April, the newspaper was flying about the return of 30 thousand UAH to all military allowances.
The initiator was the Verkhovna Rada, which on April 10, 2023 approved the bill No. 8312 together with the corresponding amendment by Dmitry Razumkov. It envisages at the time of the martial law the establishment of the marginal amount of salaries of civil servants and employees of state -owned enterprises in ten minimum wages (67 thousand UAH) and the referral of saved so funds for the military.
However, the deputy from the Voice faction, the secretary of the Committee on Budget Volodymyr Tsabal introduced a decision to the Parliament to cancel the decision on the adoption of the aforementioned law, because, in his opinion, Razumkov's amendment is populist and violates Ukraine's obligations before international donor reforms Management of state -owned enterprises. In addition, the funds that are proposed to be selected from civil servants are clearly not enough for the military.
Commenting on this decision in his channel in telegrams, the People's Deputy, the first deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, Yaroslav Zheleznyak noted that this amendment returned the allowance to defenders by saving on reduced salaries of civil servants, which is not enough for 2% From the planned expenditures, because the military spent UAH 2. 7 billion a day.
"Therefore, I would not have argued so much that [the allowance] was returned," the People's Deputy summarizes. "Restriction of salaries in the state sector has been recognized as unconstitutional once and is obviously harmful to the country. It covers only 2% of additional expenses [for allowances], while the other 98% will have to" print "or find other sources of financing, which is difficult in deficit conditions budget, " - continues Gleb Vyshlinsky.
The focus interlocutor emphasizes that this decision is not based on real calculations and is populist, because in Ukraine everyone loves the military and does not like officials. At the same time, Rostislav Kravets is convinced that all servicemen should certainly receive additional payments, and the proposed restriction of salaries in the state sector will not contradict the norms of the Constitution of Ukraine and already the pursuit of the ECtHR.
In 2022, when all the military received additional payments of 30 thousand UAH, the colossal deficit of the state budget was largely funded by the issue carried out by the National Bank by redemption of government bonds. The volume of such issue in 2022 reached UAH 400 billion. However, now the regulator is not set to resort to such practice.
"The National Bank is a supporter of the non -issuing funding of the budget needs for the sake of reducing the risks for Ukraine's macro -financial stability," they rested at the request of focus at the NBU. Improved, the stability of the foreign exchange market has increased, and inflation is reduced. Avoiding issue funding is also an important prerequisite for protecting citizens' incomes, including payments to defenders, from inflation depreciation.
" If you do not resort to the issue, international assistance should be the main source to cover the budget deficit, which will grow due to the return of allowances. But its volume is not limitless. "Now, almost all expenditures of the Ukrainian state budget, except for war expenditures, are covered by international donors through loans and grants.
And a shortage of one article of expenditures increases the overall budget deficit, which can raise issues in international partners that have a very fragile balance. On their part, there is no willingness to cover as much as you want - they will help us within a reasonable amount, " - comments Gleb Vyshlinsky. "The government is trying to reduce the hole in the budget, and the abolition of surcharges for those in the rear is a logical step in this situation.
Sooner or later it should still be done. Therefore, the question is not in the decision itself, but in the time of its implementation. By and large, they could also ask for money for donors, but they do not want to cement this position, "Dmitry Boyarchuk, CASE Ukraine Executive Director, continues. Accordingly, according to the focus interlocutor, the initiative to return the surcharges that has left the political camp is unlikely to have a chance.
At the same time, the Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko in a recent video interview suggested that the return of additional payments to the military of 30 thousand UAH could not be financed without increasing the tax burden and military levy. Because, according to Marchenko, this requires an additional UAH 170 billion a year, for which the taxes will have to be enlarged - VAT by 4%[up to 24%] and a military levy three times [up to 4. 5%].
Such a step, apparently, with all respect for the military, will cause great indignation in millions of Ukrainian taxpayers.
"It is necessary to carefully calculate and economically check all decisions on increasing budget expenditures and taking into account the availability of realistic sources of their coverage, because the decisions that threaten macro -financial stability are not only threatened not only by the overall stability of the economy, but also by Ukraine's defense capacity," The focus expressed a position in the National Bank.
While in society and corridors of power "they" break "around the sensitive issue, the highest military command of Ukraine appealed to the Verkhovna Rada to postpone the consideration of the bill No. 8312 on the return of surcharges to the military.
The authors of the appeal noted that it was necessary to collect a working group with representatives of the Verkhovna Rada, the Cabinet of Ministers, the General Staff of the Armed Forces and by the end of May to develop a bill together, which regulates the issue of remuneration of servicemen.
In response to the request of focus, the NBU reported that they share the position of the General Staff of Ukraine and believe that populism and speculation on this issue are unacceptable and directly damaging defense, and added that solving socially sensible issues requires thorough calculations in terms of expenses and expenses in terms of sources of coverage and deep communication with society.