Ukraine's parliament approves stricter IMF-backed budget amendments
(Adds quotes, details)
KIEV, March 2 (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament approved on Monday a raft of International Monetary Fund-backed amendments to its 2015 draft budget that Kiev hopes will help it clinch a $17.5 billion bailout package.
The amendments, which include some tax hikes and pension cuts, are part of the government's broader austerity drive to pull Ukraine back from the brink of bankruptcy.
The IMF board, expected to meet next week, has yet to approve the package and disbursement of the next tranche of cash was partly contingent on Kiev passing the budget.
"I am sure that after our vote, the (IMF) board will meet on March 11 and take a positive decision for Ukraine," Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said.
Populist factions in parliament said the amendments were overly strict, but the final vote passed comfortably with 273 deputies voting in favour, 47 more than the minimum required.
In the draft budget, costs will rise by 35.7 billion hryvnia ($1.9 billion) due to extra social subsidies, including for refugees from the country's separatist conflict, Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko said.
She said expenditure would also go up by 21.5 billion hryvnia as Ukraine's debt-servicing costs have spiralled as a result of a sharp depreciation in the currency, which has fallen 50 percent against the dollar since the start of the year, after having halved in value in 2014. ($1 = 19.0000 hryvnias) (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
