The Government approved the draft State Budget of Ukraine for 2026

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the draft State Budget for 2026 and submitted it to the Verkhovna Rada for consideration. Total budget expenditures for 2026 are planned at 4.8 trillion hryvnias, which is 415 billion hryvnias more than in 2025.

Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko announced this on Facebook.

According to her, revenues are expected to reach 2.826 trillion hryvnias, which is 446.8 billion hryvnias or 18.8% more than last year. The deficit is projected at 18.4% of GDP, which is 3.9 percentage points less than in 2025. The need for external financing will amount to 2.079 trillion hryvnias.

The main priority of the budget is security and defence. 2.8 trillion hryvnias is planned to provide financial support to the military, support their families, strengthen air defence and develop our own defence industry, and at least 44.3 billion hryvnias is planned for the production of weapons, including ammunition, missiles, armoured vehicles and drones.

The social sector also receives a significant portion of funding. According to the Prime Minister, UAH 265.4 billion has been allocated for education, which will increase the average salary of teachers by 50% in two stages and provide free meals for 4.4 million schoolchildren. It is planned to double scholarships for more than 163,000 students. 19.9 billion hryvnias has been allocated for science, including support for young scientists and defence research.

Yuliia Svyrydenko also noted that the healthcare sector will receive 258 billion hryvnias, in particular to increase salaries for doctors, provide free medicines and launch the programme «Checkup 40+» for comprehensive health screening of middle-aged citizens. Pension payments will amount to 1.027 trillion hryvnias with indexation, and 467.1 billion hryvnias is planned for social payments and demographic programmes, including assistance to IDPs, people with disabilities and programmes to support families with children.

Veterans will receive 17.9 billion hryvnias for housing compensation, integration programmes and dental care.

Local budgets will increase their revenues to 871.9 billion hryvnias, while inter-budget transfers will amount to 289.3 billion hryvnias.

41.5 billion hryvnias is planned to support businesses, including loan programmes and the development of defence technologies, while the agricultural sector will receive 13.1 billion hryvnias for grants, subsidies and loan interest compensation.

Culture will receive funding of 15.8 billion hryvnias to create content that strengthens national identity, and public investment in the restoration and modernisation of Ukraine will amount to 45.9 billion hryvnias.

As reported earlier, NikVesti wrote that the Government had approved a draft law on the automatic exchange of information on income received through digital platforms. It provides for a preferential rate of 5% for small sellers and the standard 18% for other cases.