Today, the social and humanitarian component of the state budget of Ukraine is financed with the support of international partners. First of all, the European Union, the United States, and the G7 countries. At the same time, the state spends almost the entire peacetime budget on the Army. This was announced by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal during a conversation with foreign journalists.
“The state budget deficit last year amounted to about USD 31 billion. We received these funds from our partners. Mostly from the EU, G7, and the US, and from international financial institutions, including the IMF. During the year of war, Ukraine lost more than 30% of its GDP. That is why the budget deficit is already USD 38 billion,” he emphasized.
According to the Prime Minister, the deficit also arises due to the growth of spending on the security and defense sector.
“Today we spend almost the entire peacetime budget of the country on the Army. At the same time, the social and humanitarian component is financed with the support of our partners, and Ukraine is very grateful for this help. We thank the European Commission for allocating EUR 18 billion of macro-financial support for 2023. The United States will provide Ukraine with more than USD 10 billion, and other G7 countries are also providing direct budget support. Ukraine is actively working with the IMF. We have completed the revision of the Monitoring Program and have come up with a large four-year program,” the Prime Minister said.
The Head of Government also emphasized the need for Ukraine’s rapid recovery.
“We need additional USD 17 billion for the so-called rapid recovery. We are working together with our partners in this area and have good prospects,” the Prime Minister said.
Denys Shmyhal outlined four priorities of the Government in the recovery.
“The first is the restoration of the energy sector. Without it, it is impossible to talk about other social or humanitarian projects. The second is humanitarian demining. Ukraine is one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world. We need to demine 174,000 square kilometers. The third priority is to restore critical infrastructure and damaged housing so that people could live in their homes. The fourth priority is economic recovery. Due to the full-scale invasion, Ukrainians have lost more than 3 million jobs. Large extractive and metalworking enterprises in eastern Ukraine have been destroyed or occupied. That is why the Government is focusing on the development of microbusinesses, small and medium-sized enterprises. To this end, we are launching grant support programs and soft loan programs,” said Denys Shmyhal.