Sergii Marchenko: Over EUR 300 million in direct budget support provided by Italy to Ukraine since February 2022

Today, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko met with the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy to Ukraine Carlo Formosa.

The meeting was also attended by First Deputy Minister of Finance Denys Uliutin, Deputy Ministers of Finance Olga Zykova and Alexander Kava and Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management Yuriy Butsa.

Sergii Marchenko congratulated Carlo Formosa on his appointment as Ambassador to Ukraine and thanked Italy for the productive cooperation:

“Italy was one of the first countries to provide budgetary support after the start of the full-scale invasion. And all this time, Italy continues to be a reliable partner of Ukraine, demonstrating comprehensive assistance, including within its presidency in the G7 this year.”

The Minister of Finance noted the efforts of Italy, presiding in the G7 in 2024, which contributed to the agreement of the G7 countries to provide Ukraine with about USD 50 billion. These funds will be mobilised from the future revenues received from the frozen sovereign russian assets. The parties discussed the implementation of this mechanism.

“Next year, the State Budget is anticipated to continue requiring external financing. The use of revenues from the immobilised russian assets will allow us to cover Ukraine’s most urgent needs and strengthen its resilience in the face of a full-scale war”, said Sergii Marchenko.

The Ukrainian side also emphasised its efforts to increase internal financial resources.

In this context, Carlo Formosa congratulated the Ministry of Finance on the successful bondholders’ vote in favour of the restructuring of Ukraine’s external commercial state and state-guaranteed debt. The savings on debt service will be used to finance the country’s defence under martial law.

The parties expressed their solidarity in the need to develop and strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries, particularly in the financial sector.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Italy has provided Ukraine with over EUR 320 million in direct budget support.