KIEV (Sputnik) – Over 260 Rada members voted in favor of the IMF-backed budget, with the document now going to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for signing.
The adoption of the budget was one of the main conditions for the release of a $1.7-billion loan from the IMF to Ukraine.
Earlier, Ukraine's Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius announced that the country’s cabinet had approved the 2016 budget.
The cabinet presented its long-awaited draft budget for 2016 to the parliament on December 11. Work on the 2016 budget went into overtime as the Ukrainian government and lawmakers grappled with divisions over tax reforms, due to come into force next year.
Lawmakers were opposed to the government’s plan of raising taxes to boost budget revenues and planned austerity measures. According to some deputies, the 12 percent pension and wage increase stipulated by the 2016 budget is not enough, as inflation in Ukraine is expected to be at least 30 percent next year.
