In 2024, the State Budget of Ukraine did not count UAH 65.5 billion in revenues. The main reason for this was the difference between the actual macroeconomic indicators and the planned. This was reported by the chairman of the Accounting Chamber Olga Peschanskaya, summarizing the budget over the past year.
The lack of receipt of over UAH 65 billion has been a reflection of a slow recovery of the Ukrainian economy in war, infrastructure destruction and limited opportunities for internal investment. In particular, the decrease in activity in individual sectors of the economy, as well as the deviation of the course dynamics from forecasts significantly influenced the formation of the revenue part of the budget.
Despite the loss, the general plan of state budget revenues was still exceeded by UAH 373 billion (13.5%). Compared to 2023, revenues increased by UAH 451 billion, which is an increase of 16.9%. This was facilitated by both economic factors (+316 billion UAH) and administrative efforts to improve tax discipline and recovery (+178 billion UAH).
However, the auditors also recorded a negative trend - an increase in tax debt. During the year, it increased by 29%, which indicates the difficulty of business with the fulfillment of tax liabilities.
International assistance has played a key role in stabilizing the state's finances. During 2024, Ukraine received 1.7 trillion hryvnias from partners, which is 10.2% more than in 2023. However, this figure remained 4.2% lower than the planned level, which indicates a certain volatility of external revenues.
The total budget expenditures amounted to 4.5 trillion UAH - 2.8% less than the plan. At the same time, it is the highest rate since 2020. The greatest increase in expenditures occurred in the security and defense sector - plus UAH 340 billion (12.9%), to the record UAH 2.1 trillion.
The costs of repayment and servicing of public and guaranteed debt have decreased by UAH 85 billion (9.2%) compared to the plan - partly due to the course difference.
By the end of 2024, the total volume of state and government -guaranteed debt increased by 25%, reaching 6.981 trillion UAH. This is 91% of the country's GDP, which indicates a significant debt load and limited fiscal space in the coming years.
