"This is the first serious result of cooperation between the president of Ukraine, the democratic parliamentary coalition and the new government," Yushchenko said in comments published on his website.

Yushchenko ally Yulia Tymoshenko secured passage of the budget through parliament on Friday, 10 days after being elected prime minister with one vote to spare in parliament.

Yushchenko's Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc together secured a narrow majority of seats in September elections to unseat their Russia-backed rival Viktor Yanukovych from the prime minister's office.

Tymoshenko said a 2008 budget deficit of 18.5 billion hryvnias (3.66 billion dollars, 2.5 billion euros) would be financed in part by privatisations, the Interfax news agency reported.

The budget envisages income of 215.36 billion hryvnias (42.6 billion dollars, 29 billion euros) and expenses of 235.43 billion hryvnias (46.6 billion dollars, 31.7 billion euros), the news agency reported.

The budget is based on GDP growth of 6.8 percent and inflation of 9.6 percent, Interfax said.

Published in DPA

Ukraine's sharply-divided parliament overcame a critical financial and political hurdle on Friday to pass into law the 2008 government budget. The polarised house voted 235 out of 450 in favour of increased government assistance to low-income families, reduced tax load on small business, and additional collections from big business.

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Published in Reuters
By: Natalya Zinets

Ukraine's parliament on Friday gave its approval on a second and final reading to a 2008 budget revised by the new government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

A total of 235 deputies voted in favour, nine more than the 226 required for passage in the 450-seat assembly. Debate on the document proceeded for several hours after the assembly had given its initial approval earlier in the day. Read More...

Published in AP

The Ukrainian Parliament approved next year's budget Friday - an ambitious plan submitted by the new Cabinet that also projects a bloated deficit.

The vote came 10 days after lawmakers named Yulia Tymoshenko, a leader of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, the new prime minister by the narrowest possible margin. Her appointment followed months of tense coalition talks and reflected deep divisions in the former Soviet nation.

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Published in UNIAN

Cabinet of Ministers has unanimously approved a Draft State Budget for 2008. “The Budget is unanimously approved,” Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko stated after the Government sitting, according to the government’s press-office.

The Head of Government noted that 2008 Draft Budget of Ukraine provides compensation of payouts to depositors of the Oshchadbank of the former USSR totalling nearly 20 billion UAH, 6 billion UAH of which intended to be directed at monetary payouts.

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Published in UNIAN

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko stated that the Cabinet of Ministers is interested in making the Government Action Program a uniting document for the whole Parliament.

According to the government’s press-office, Yulia Tymoshenko disclosed this while meeting with the leader of the Party of Regions faction Viktor Yanukovych.

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Published in UNIAN

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko stresses that 2008 Draft Budget provides significant wage and pension raise. The Head of Government stated at the meeting with the leader of the Party of Regions faction Viktor Yanukovych, according to the government’s press-office.

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Published in Pravda.ru

Yulia Tymoshenko, the new Prime Minister of Ukraine, has launched her large-scale activities from the very first day of her stay in the office. It is obvious that everything that the lady is doing now is connected with the pre-election campaign, which is set to start in Ukraine in at the end of 2009.

Yulia Tymoshenko, the “iron lady of Ukraine” is determined to become Ukraine’s next president. The biography of the prime minister and the first steps that she takes of the position which she takes for the second time show that the president’s office is her primary goal.

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Published in Financial Times
By: Roman Olearchyk

Yulia Tymoshenko, the newly appointed prime ­minister of Ukraine, has pledged that her pro-western governing coalition will seek to "harmonise" relations with Moscow

Many observers expected the charismatic 47-year old, who was appointed last week, to shake up bilateral relations between Kiev and Moscow. Relations between the countries have been strained since the Orange Revolution of 2004. The trigger, many thought, would be her plans to cut intermediaries out of the multi-billion-dollar natural gas trade between Ukraine, Russia and central Asian suppliers.

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U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice is confident that Yulia Tymoshenko “will be a perfect Prime Minister”.

According to the government’s press-service, C.Rice said this during a telephone conversation with Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko on Friday.

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