Ukraine's Finance Ministry hopes to cut budget deficit to 7% of GDP, says defense spending stands in the way

Hopefully, Ukraine's state budget deficit will shrink to 7%-8% of GDP in 2015, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko told a Swedish-Ukrainian business forum in Kyiv on Tuesday.

"We have reduced the budget deficit," she said.

Ukraine's state budget deficit stood at over 14% of GDP in 2014, the minister said.

The state budget deficit is expected to decrease due to a reduction in subsidies for the national joint-stock company Naftogaz of Ukraine and some other factors, Jaresko said.

The anticipated decrease is insufficient, but more serious results will be difficult to achieve due to the country's extensive defense spending at the moment, she said.