KYIV, Dec 15 – Parliament late Tuesday approved 2021 budget with deficit at 5.5% of the GDP to comply with demands from the international Monetary Fund to reduce financing gap from previously planned 6%.

The bill was backed by 289 lawmakers in the 450-seat legislature with President Volodymyr Zelenkskiy’s party Servant of the People joining forces with smaller and fragmented groups mostly dominated by special interests.