economy, the indicators characterizing the budgetary burden are comparable. Due to
the integration of economic, financial, currency, and credit systems in European
countries, the convergence process has taken place – equalizing the value of financial
and budgetary indicators, in particular, the budget deficit, public debt, inflation, interest
rates, etc. Among the main benefits of such integration is the coordinated, even
development of all EU Member States. The disadvantage of such an association is the
particular country government inability to accelerate its own economy development.
Table 2 Public Finance Indicators in the euro zone for 2010-2017, % of GDP
Indicators
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Budget deficit
-6.3
-4.1
-3.6
-2.9
-2.4
-2.1
-1.5
-0.9
Government
Expenditures
50.7
49.0
49.6
49.5
49.2
48.5
47.8
47.2
Government
Revenues
44.4
44.9
46.0
46.6
46.7
46.4
46.5
46.5
State debt
78.7
86.0
89.4
91.3
91.8
89.9
88.9
86.7
Source:
compiled
according
to
the
statistics
of
the
European
Union
(http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu)
Based on the analysis of only the above indicators, it can be noted that the state’s
role in the Ukrainian economy is rather high. Thus, in 2017 the share of state
expenditures with the Pension Fund in GDP in our country was 42.5%. Unfortunately,
the state’s economic regulating mechanism capacity remains unsatisfactory and
requires immediate reform.
The prominent American economist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics
(1970) Paul Samuelson noted: «Democracy generates a state that is desirable to it.
Unfortunately, the history will answer two questions – is the extension of the state’s
powers good or bad policy, and whether it should receive approval from all who are
sincerely interested in preserving and improving the positive aspects of our system –
after a long time only. In politics, as in any other area, it is true that the road to Hell is
paved with good intentions» [9, p.152].
In order to ensure the economy’s growth, Ukraine has actually exhausted all
possibilities to expand the range of state functions in terms of their budget financing.
Thus, some scholars believe that for our country the optimum or reverse of the state
consumption volume is 25-27% of GDP, while others define it at the level of 32-33%
of GDP (excluding social transfers). A further public spending increasing is already
threatening the country's development. Especially during the world economy recession,
which occurs in modern conditions, it is necessary to reduce budget expenditures.
In this regard, the present condition and the near-term outlook of the budgetary
burden on the Ukrainian economy are of particular interest. It must be agreed with the
many experts’ opinion that when calculating the budget burden indicator, it should
- 442 -