The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada has passed in the first reading the draft budget 2008 presented by the Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko Cabinet with 243 votes.
The draft gained support of the coalition between the Yulia Timoshenko Bloc and pro-presidential Our Ukraine - People's Self Defense, as well as the Vladimir Litvin Bloc and one representative of the Party of Regions. The communists abstained.
Ukraine will have a national budget with revenues of 215 billion hryvni, expenditures of 235 billion hryvni, and the maximum deficit of 18.5 billion hryvni (the current exchange rate is 5.05 hryvni to the dollar).
The draft budget presented by the former government of Viktor Yanukovich in November had revenues of 206.6 billion hryvni, expenditures of 224.4 billion hryvni, and the maximum deficit of 16.2 billion hryvni. ( Itar-Tass )