ICU estimates underfunding of 2020 state budget deficit at near UAH 100 bln

The ICU Investment Group estimates the financing of the state budget deficit in 2020 at UAH 200 billion compared with the planned UAH 298.4 billion, Senior Financial Analyst at the ICU Investment Group Taras Kotovych said during an online conference on Tuesday.

"There is a problem with attracting funds. In January-November, the budget deficit amounted to UAH 117 billion, and not up to UAH 200 billion, which could have been, precisely because of the poor execution of budget expenditures," the analyst said.

According to him, the planned 2020 deficit is not being met, in particular, health care and economic activities were financed by only 60%, which is due to the limited official funding.

As Kotovych said, the problem of financing is due to the fact that when calculating the budget, large borrowings were planned, in particular from international financial institutions, which were not realized due to the delay in reviewing the IMF program and the subsequent tranche.

ICU expects that borrowings in 2021 will also be less than the planned UAH 246.6 billion, but slightly more than in 2020, which will affect the size of the deficit, which, according to the investment group's forecasts, will be 4.5% of GDP.

As reported, the state budget for 2020 provides for a deficit of 7.5% of GDP, and the draft state budget for 2021 is based on a deficit of 5.5% of GDP.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua