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What Kyiv's pandemic budget change meant by April 2020
Summary
A look back at the budget amendments Ukraine's parliament passed in April 2020 to fund its response to COVID-19.
What was Ukraine's parliament doing to prepare for the cost of the pandemic in the days before 19 April 2020? By then it had already acted on money.
On 13 April 2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved amendments to the 2020 state budget. The changes were needed to fight the coronavirus disease COVID-19 and provided for the budget deficit to rise threefold.
Why the deficit mattered
The amendments tied the budget directly to the health emergency. Tripling the deficit meant the state planned to spend well beyond its original 2020 plan to pay for its response to the disease.
A separate security note
On 15 April 2020, according to United States Space Command, Russia conducted a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile test. That report concerned a different matter from Ukraine's budget, but it appeared in the same week as the Rada's vote.
For readers looking back, the budget vote of 13 April 2020 stands out as the concrete step Ukraine's lawmakers took in that period to fund the COVID-19 response.
