​The Ministry of Finance has discussed key innovations of the budget process for 2018 with the main entities managing budget funds

On March 21, the workshop “Budget Reform: Legislative Innovations and Specifics of the Budget Process in 2018” took place at the Ministry of Finance. The workshop was chaired by Deputy Minister of Finance Sergiy Marchenko.

The event was attended by representatives of the main entities from all regions of Ukraine entitled to manage budget funds.

The workshop was organized with the support of the project “Gender Budgeting in Ukraine”.

The main point on the agenda was the specifics of the preparation of the Budget Resolution (key areas of the budget policy) for 2019-2021 which is the key element of mid-term budget planning.

The budget reform is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Finance. For two consecutive years the Ministry of Finance has been applying improved budgeting approaches in the preparation of the draft state budget, which makes it possible to prepare appropriate and realistic financial documents at the national level.

Changing the ways of funding for budget programs, the Ministry of Finance initiates systemic reforms in a number of sectors, and the implementation of mid-term budget planning makes it possible to go ahead with systemic deep reforms.

Deputy Minister of Finance Sergiy Marchenko pointed out that it is crucial for the Ministry of Finance to deploy mid-term planning in full, to make it permanent and valid at all levels of the budget system. For this purpose the Ministry of Finance prepared amendments to the Budget Code. The corresponding draft laws are already at the Parliament.

Sergiy Marchenko appealed to all representatives of the budget managing entities who attended the workshop to act responsibly in regard to the preparation of the mid-term Budget Resolution for 2019-2021, since this strategic document determines the main areas of the budget policy for the next 3 years.

“We must be aware that our well-coordinated work is crucial for the quality of the budgetary policy and all relevant documents. This is the basis for a successful budget reform. One more important task for all of us is to prepare a well-balanced draft state budget for 2019 which will cover the implementation of reforms in respective sectors. That is why the Ministry of Finance invites all entities managing budget funds to engage into a productive dialogue”, Sergiy Marchenko said addressing the workshop participants.

Maia Bosnich, manager of the project “Gender Budgeting in Ukraine” said: ”The Project helps the Ministry of Finance implement reforms aimed to ensure fair and unbiased budgeting taking into account the real needs of Ukrainian citizens. Gender-oriented budgeting is a part of the mid-term budget planning. Starting from this year, our project – jointly with the Ministry of Finance – will be expanding cooperation with the main entities entitled to manage public funds. Thus, it is planned in this year for all ministries to start the implementation of gender-oriented budgeting with the support of the Ministry of Finance.”

The Ministry of Finance works permanently to implement new solutions and approaches to make the budget process more comprehensive, effective and transparent. In doing so, the Ministry is discarding its previous unilateral communication approach. In this way, the law on the state budget can be prepared with a proper quality and a stable basis can be ensured for the implementation of reforms in Ukraine.