KIEV, Sept. 16 – Concerns over the status of the 2014 budget draft rose Monday after Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Rybak returned the draft back to the government, citing the need to fix “many issues.”

No other lawmaker has been able to see and view the draft, raising questions over the government’s alleged failure to prepare the budget on time.

This strengthens earlier speculation the government has been lagging behind schedule and could have repercussions in January 2014 unless the bill is approved by then.

“Today I returned the budget,” Rybak said. “They sent a letter saying that many additional issues have emerged.”

“We have a number of bills that we need to approve to make sure budget revenue is formed,” Rybak said.

The government is obliged by law to submit a next year’s budget draft before September 15 and the bill must be approved by November 15 to make sure state spending in January goes in line with the plan.

This year, the government submitted the budget draft to Parliament on Saturday, September 14. On Monday morning it was already returned back to the government, raising questions whether Rybak has been helping the government to cover up the failure.

“There were no any supporting documents, no explanatory notes,” Vitaliy Klichko, the leader of the opposition Udar party, said. “This is unprofessional work of the government.”

Klichko called on Prime Minister Mykola Azarov to report on the problem immediately.

“We demand the report of the prime minister and his explanations over the problem,” Klichko said.

Arseniy Yatseniuk, the leader of the largest opposition Batkivshchyna group, said there were speculations the government is facing major financial difficulties this year and next.

He estimated the government probably runs short of 45 billion hryvnias to meet the planned spending targets.

“We want to clearly hear from the government how it will bridge the gap during the last months of the year, as well as how we are going to live next year,” Yatseniuk said.

The government formally approved the 2014 budget draft on September 11 but no ministers or other officials – not even Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov - had a copy of the draft at the time, according to people familiar with the issue.

The Finance Ministry later denied the allegations and stated the budget draft had been effectively approved by the government.

The 2013 budget was approved by outgoing lawmakers in early December 2012, or after parliamentary elections and before newly elected deputies had taken their seats.

The budget predicted economic growth of 3.4% on the year in 2013 and expanded budget deficit to 50.4 billion hryvnias, or 3.2% of the gross domestic product, up from 1.8% in 2012.

The International Monetary Fund expects the Ukrainian economy to record a zero growth in 2013, which means weaker-than-expected revenue for the government.

The Finance Ministry said it expects Ukraine’s economy to grow 3% on the year in 2014, while the budget deficit will be kept at 2.7% of the GDP. Consumer inflation will probably be at 8.3% in 2014, according to the ministry. (tl/ez)