Ukrainian parliament may start considering 2016 state budget by late night
KYIV. Dec 24 (Interfax) - Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada will not start considering the draft state budget until 23:30 Thursday (00:30 a.m. Friday Moscow time), first deputy chairman of Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction Ihor Kononenko predicts.
"Now, the government is calculating the budget together with the [budget parliamentary] committee, then the government meeting begins, [which is] to be followed by the committee meeting. After that, we will have our meeting," Kononenko said in an interview with the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper in the parliament on Thursday.
"I suppose that it won't be until 23:00-23:30 [that the budget bill will be presented in the assembly hall]. Five more bills will be there, the ones on National Guards and on state procurement in particular," he added.
The government meeting on the state budget is scheduled for 22:00 Kyiv time (23:00 in Moscow).
`The Ukrainian government's press service told Interfax on Thursday that the Ministry of Finance would present the draft state budget for consideration by the Cabinet of Ministers and that "upon its approval by the government, it will be submitted anew to the Verkhovna Rada".
"The Cabinet meeting is technical so no participation of media has been planned," the government's press service confirmed.
