KIEV, Feb. 27 – Opposition lawmakers on Wednesday walked out on President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov during a Cabinet of Ministers meeting following a clash over the government’s economic plan.

Arseniy Yatseniuk, the leader of the Batkivshchyna group, who led a team of opposition lawmakers to the Cabinet meeting, said the group will now seek Azarov’s dismissal.

“The opposition will demand the dismissal of the government through a no-confidence vote,” Yatseniuk said after leaving the meeting.

A no-confidence vote resolution can be submitted to Parliament if 150 lawmakers in the 450-seat legislature sign the petition. Yatseniuk said the opposition groups had enough support for the petition.

The Regions Party does not control a majority of seats in Parliament and relies on 40-50 independent lawmakers.

The vote will also put the spotlight on the Communist Party, which had refused to support the government’s policies, but had backed the approval of Azarov to the post.

“We want to see how independent lawmakers, as well as the Communist Party, express their positions concerning this government,” Yatseniuk said.

The walkout came immediately after Azarov refused to allow Yatseniuk to speak at the meeting to propose 42 bills that would improve economic prospects.

The bills were suggested as an alternative to the government’s economic policies plan for the next two years discussed at the meeting.

The plan, a combination of measures to increase state spending and control over investments in steel and heavy machinery sectors, would help the sectors boost exports by $3 billion in 2013 and further in 2014.

“The plan would allow us to boost the exports in 2013 and in even more in 2014,” Azarov said at the meeting, which was attended by Yanukovych.

Azarov said the plan would help Ukraine’s economy to grow at least 3% annually during the next two years at the expense of forecast 10% growth in the machinery sector 25% growth in agriculture commodities output and 35% growth in the IT sector.

The steel sector, the backbone of the country’s economy, is projected to grow 1.5% on the year in 2013, while chemical and petrochemical sectors would grow 1.8%, he said.

The plan come as Ukraine has been facing bleak economic picture this year with the economic growth slowing down to 0.5% on the year in January, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.

This is a sharp contract to the government’s forecast that the economy would grow 3.4% on the year in 2013.

Ukraine’s direct state debt was likely to increase to 30.6% of the GDP in 2013 from 28.5% in 2012, according to the Finance Ministry. (tl/ez)