President signs 2017 budget raising defence spending

"[The defence expenses] are primarily focused on the funding of the Armed Forces of Ukraine including not only the fixation of financial, health, clothing and food security, but also the state defence order," Poroshenko said in a statement published on his website. The President also signed laws that raised minimum wage in the country to 3,200 hryvnias, or 120 US dollars, and increased the wages for state coal mining employees. The government based the budget on an 8.1 percent inflation forecast. The 2016 budget had a deficit of 3.7 percent GDP and an expected inflation rate of 12 percent.