There are many questions about the effectiveness of the use of funds in the areas of security and defense, said Sergei Marchenko.
There are risks of funding the state budget of Ukraine in January-February 2024. Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko said this, Interfax-Ukraine reported on Thursday, December 21.
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“We have risks in January-February. Unfortunately, in January-February the decisions made by the partners were not enough (to finance the budget needs for this period – ed.) for us to cope with alone. Therefore, we now have a plan mechanism in place B,” Marchenko said in an analysis of macroeconomic forecasts for 2024 from the Center for Economic Strategies.
According to him, the Ministry of Finance “will bring as close as possible the resources it can bring to January-February.”
Among such measures, the minister named the advance payment of dividends from state-owned companies, as well as an increase in the volume of borrowings in the domestic market.
“The situation is not critical, but there is an understanding that at this time we have to rely as much as possible on internal resources,” the head of the Ministry of Finance noted and added that his department is working in cooperation with National Bank.
He also mentioned that a potential risk for next year is an increase in state budget expenditures for 2025. According to him, Ukraine has given the state budget law for next year the maximum possible its allocation to the defense and security sector.
“The security and defense sector creates the greatest uncertainty for us. We cannot know in advance at what point something will not be sufficient there. There are so many questions about the effectiveness of the use of funds in the area that this,” Marchenko said.
Let us remind you that this year Ukraine has already received $39 billion in external financing. At the same time, the external financing requirement for 2024 was reduced to $37.3 billion.
However, international financial assistance to Ukraine in 2024 is still under discussion. The US Congress has experienced difficulties in agreeing to more than $60 billion for Ukraine. This issue will be discussed in January. President Vladimir Zelensky yesterday expressed hope that “the United States will not betray us.”
Meanwhile, Hungary has blocked 50 billion euros in aid for Ukraine from the EU. European leaders will consider the issue in early February.
Source: korrespondent
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