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2014 draft budget to be referred to Verkhovna Rada before weekend

KIEV, December 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine's draft state budget for 2014 will be referred to the Verkhovna Rada before the weekend, Anatoly Myarkovsky, Deputy Finance Minister, announced at a news conference on Tuesday.

"On Wednesday, the Cabinet of Ministers will consider the specified macroeconomic indicators of the budget plan for next year, prepared by the Finance Ministry. Before the weekend, we shall refer the draft budget to the Verkhovna Rada. The budget bill envisages a deficit of about three percent of GDP," he said.

Wednesday's parliament agenda, the Deputy Minister said, provides for a discussion of a number of proposals made by the Finance Ministry, specifically the introduction of amendments to tax legislation, the distribution of financial resources, and an adjustment of the revenue part of the state budget.

To adopt the draft new budget within a specified timeframe is quite practicable, considering the promise made by the opposition to unblock the Verkhovna Rada rostrum by Thursday, as well as the results of the 6th session of the Russia-Ukraine Interstate commission (ISC).

Within the framework of the ISC session, which ended on Tuesday, the sides signed a number of important agreements, including that on Russia's purchase of Ukrainian state bonds worth $15 billion.

Besides, Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukraine signed Tuesday an additional agreement which envisages lowering the price of gas from the present $400 down to 268.5 per 1,000 cubic meters. Vice-Premier Yuri Boiko said on the strength of the results of the Moscow ISC session that the new price of Russia's gas would be taken into account in the draft state budget for 2014.

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