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Ukraine's cabinet approves 2027 draft budget, sends it to parliament

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft State Budget for 2027 on the evening of September 15 and submitted it to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, as bill No. 16000. The draft projects expenditures of more than 7.27 trillion hryvnias, with two-thirds of spending earmarked for security and defence, and depends on international assistance for more than half of its funding.

Key points

  • Cabinet of Ministers approved the 2027 draft budget on the evening of 15 September and registered it in the Verkhovna Rada as bill No. 16000.
  • Projected 2027 expenditures are 7.272 trillion hryvnias; projected revenues are 5.648 trillion hryvnias.
  • Expenditures are 13.5% higher than the 2026 plan with amendments; revenues are 8.7% higher.
  • 66.8% of expenditures are allocated to security and defence, including 3.76 trillion hryvnias for the Ministry of Defence (320 billion hryvnias more than in 2026).
  • Social welfare spending is set at 540.3 billion hryvnias, education at 328.5 billion hryvnias, healthcare at 292.5 billion hryvnias.
  • Over 131 billion hryvnias of projected revenues depend on parliamentary approval of Tax Code changes, including a 1-point VAT hike and a 4-point fuel-excise hike, which the Budget Committee chair personally considers unlikely.
  • MPs must submit amendments by 1 October; first reading is expected in late October.

Why it matters

The 2027 draft is the largest wartime budget Ukraine has presented, with expenditures exceeding 8 trillion hryvnias — more than four times the pre-full-scale-invasion level — and with the state covering less than half from its own resources. Two-thirds of spending is earmarked for security and defence, including 3.76 trillion hryvnias for the Ministry of Defence, and a large share of projected revenues hinges on tax changes the head of the parliament's budget committee personally considers unlikely to pass. Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko described the situation as the most tense since the start of the full-scale invasion and called for action on frozen Russian assets, signalling both the fiscal pressure and the government's openness to unconventional funding sources.

What happened

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers approved the draft State Budget for 2027 on the evening of 15 September and submitted it to the Verkhovna Rada as bill No. 16000. The draft, prepared by the Ministry of Finance, projects revenues of 5.648 trillion hryvnias (8.7% above the 2026 plan) and expenditures of 7.272 trillion hryvnias (13.5% above 2026). Security and defence receive 4.885 trillion hryvnias, or 43.8% of GDP and 66.8% of expenditures, with the Ministry of Defence alone getting 3.76 trillion hryvnias — 320 billion hryvnias more than in 2026. The draft also raises social welfare spending to 540.3 billion hryvnias, education to 328.5 billion hryvnias, and healthcare to 292.5 billion hryvnias, and builds in a 65% salary increase for teachers, doctors and nurses. Over 131 billion hryvnias of projected revenue depends on parliamentary approval of Tax Code amendments, including a 1-point VAT increase and a 4-point fuel-excise increase; a further 52.5 billion hryvnias could come from extending the 50% bank profit tax and taxing digital platforms. MPs have until 1 October to submit amendments, with first reading expected in late October. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has separately called on MPs to pass seven bills needed to cover the 2026 budget deficit.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

All three supplied articles are from Ukrainian-language media, centring the official narrative from the Cabinet of Ministers, the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister. Coverage emphasises the wartime framing ("budget of a warring country"), the scale of the defence allocation, and Finance Minister Marchenko's warning that the budget situation is the most tense since 2022. The articles also detail the planned tax increases (VAT, fuel excise) and the parliamentary timetable, reflecting the domestic fiscal and political debate around how the record budget will be financed.

Where reporting differs

Sources disagree on the prime minister's name: one article refers to him as "Serhiy Koretsky," another as "Serhiy Korchevskyi." Sources also differ on the scale of projected expenditures — one reports 7.27 trillion hryvnias, while another reports total state budget expenditures exceeding 8 trillion hryvnias. Figures on revenue dependent on Tax Code amendments also vary: some cite over 131 billion hryvnias tied to a 1-point VAT and 4-point fuel-excise hike, while MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak's numbers cite 117.3 billion hryvnias from Tax Code amendments plus 64.9 billion hryvnias from "customs de-shadowing" whose VAT rate and effective date are not specified in the documents.

Background

The 2027 draft is described as a record wartime budget, with MPs required to submit amendments by 1 October and first reading expected in late October. The fiscal backdrop is one in which the state covers less than half of expenditures from its own resources, with the rest to come from international partners including the European Union, G7 countries under the ERA financing framework, the IMF, the World Bank and the United Kingdom.