President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a law on the first amendments to the state budget for 2023, Ukrinform reports.
The document increases by UAH 5,564.7 million the expenditures and loans of the state budget special fund at the expense of grants and assistance from partners (UAH 445.6 million), additional external borrowings (UAH 3,842.0 million) and the refund of the money provided to the Ministry of Economy for the Compulsory State Unemployment Insurance Fund for the payment of benefits (UAH 1,277.0 million).
The law allocates UAH 1,347.0 million for the reconstruction and/or modernisation of three hospitals (Okhmatdyt, a university clinic in Kyiv and a rehabilitation centre in Lviv), UAH 1,115.9 million for a bridge reconstruction programme, UAH 1,277.0 million for grants to small and microbusinesses in the processing sector, UAH 1,094.1 million for the arrangement of checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border, and UAH 365.7 million for the Agricultural Partial Credit Guarantee Fund.
The document also provides UAH 79.9 million for the purchase of equipment for hospitals and UAH 285 million for the purchase of drones to monitor the state border.
In addition, the law provides for the transfer of the Fund for liquidation of the consequences of armed aggression (UAH 52.5 billion) to the Ministry of Community, Territorial and Infrastructure Development and new areas of use of the Fund: construction of housing for those who lost it, compensation for destroyed housing and the possibility of restoring military infrastructure.
The sale of Russian oligarchs' assets under the Law on Sanctions will be an additional funding source for the Liquidation Fund.
At the same time, the document provides compensation (insurance) for owners of ships and vessels sailing in inland waters if they are damaged or destroyed by Russia. The total amount of compensation is up to UAH 20 billion this year. The Cabinet of Ministers will be able to use the Road Fund as a source of payment.