How the authorities will rob the residents of Ukraine in 2019: Seven points of the new budget

Ukraine's new budget for 2019 significantly reduces social spending, and the government saves on its most vulnerable citizens - in at least seven ways. Economist Viktor Skarshevsky stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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“Firstly, the government plans to increase social spending for next year by 5%. This is despite the fact that inflation (underestimated) will be 7,4%. That is, real social spending for the next year is reduced, not increased. A real reduction in social spending for the next year is the know-how of this budget.

The second fact: the cost of living is underestimated by 2,5 times relative to the actual cost of living, which is calculated by the Ministry of Social Policy. The budget includes a cost of living of 1800 UAH, by the end of the year – 2000 UAH, and the actual cost of living, which the Ministry of Social Policy considers, is already more than 4 thousand UAH.

Ukrainian citizens are being robbed by lowering the cost of living.

And they will not be able to increase it, because if they bring it to its actual value, they will have to admit that the government is bankrupt. Because the government does not have money for such social benefits.

There is also the know-how of this budget, and this is the fourth fact. From this year, indexation of pensions should take place on the basis of a law that was adopted in October last year. This is the so-called pension reform. But the government decided to save on pensioners and pensions will be increased not from January 1, but from March 1. A delay of 2 months means the government will save UAH 12 billion on pensioners. Despite the fact that the average pension is already meager.

Another point is the underestimation of inflation. It is planned to be 4%, but in reality it will be 10-11%. This affects the poorest because this is an indexation of the subsistence level.

Another know-how - tariffs for natural gas and, accordingly, heat and hot water, will increase by at least 25% this year, and the government plans to reduce subsidies for next year, and significantly - to 55 billion UAH from the current 71 billion UAH And this despite the fact that these 71 billion UAH for this year are already not enough.

The population's debt to pay for housing and communal services continues to grow. There is a powerful anti-social policy going on. The government can achieve savings only in one case - if it reduces the number of subsidy recipients by at least 1,5 times.

Two more points. Targeted assistance to internally displaced persons next year will be less than this year. They are saving not only for the poorest, but also for the most socially vulnerable.

And the most striking example of antisociality. On July 17, the Constitutional Court (at the suggestion of the Opposition Bloc) overturned the government’s decision to deprive Chernobyl victims of benefits. They were deprived of benefits starting at the end of 2014. The Ukrainian government ignores this decision and does not pay the debt to the Chernobyl victims. There is not even a line in the budget about compensation for these benefits. And the amount is small - only UAH 703 million from a budget of more than a trillion. And the government even saves on this. And not only does it save money, it violates the Constitution,” the expert said.