The Ukraine Donor Platform plays a crucial role in coordinating international efforts to secure budgetary and reconstruction support for Ukraine. 

This was emphasized by the Minister of Finance and Ukraine’s co-chair of the Platform Sergii Marchenko at the opening of the Steering Committee's eleventh meeting held in Rome, Italy.

The event was attended by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal (online), Co-Chair of the Platform from Ukraine, Minister of Finance Sergii Marchenko, Director-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations Gert-Jan Koopman from the European Commission, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh from the United States, as well as representatives of partner countries, the European Commission, and IFIs.

Sergii Marchenko expressed gratitude to his colleagues for their active cooperation and thanked the Italian government for hosting the meeting in person in Rome. As of today, the Platform includes 23 countries, both permanent and temporary observers, and 7 international financial organizations.

The discussions focused on Ukraine's budgetary needs for 2024-2025, public investment management, and ongoing reform efforts.

The Minister of Finance of Ukraine outlined the state of the financial system and the key needs for the current and next year.

“The Ministry of Finance is working diligently to mobilize domestic resources to ensure the country's financial stability and self-sufficiency, as well as to fund the urgent needs of the security and defense sector. The required funding for Ukraine's defense has been increased by USD 12 billion in 2024*. We must respond proactively to this challenge. Planned measures include increasing domestic borrowing, reducing debt service costs, cutting expenditures, and boosting tax revenues.

Despite these efforts, international financial support remains crucial for Ukraine. It has allowed us to fully cover priority social expenditures. In the first nine months of 2024, international budget support amounted to USD 24.5 billion, enabling us to fully fund pensions, healthcare, education, infrastructure recovery, and war-related recovery efforts,” said Sergii Marchenko.

Looking ahead to 2025, Marchenko highlighted that the draft State Budget, currently under parliamentary review, prioritizes defense funding, social services, and citizen support. 

“The planned amount of external financing to fully cover all social and humanitarian needs in the 2025 budget is USD 38.4 billion. Next year, we expect to receive EUR 12.5 billion and USD 1.8 billion from the EU and the IMF, respectively. The issue of the G7 mechanism for increasing the budget revenues of Ukraine (Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration for Ukraine) of USD 50 billion at the expense of revenues from the frozen assets of the russian federation is relevant. The European Commission's recent proposal of up to EUR 35 billion is an important step in this direction. We expect to reach a fair solution with the G7 countries in the near future,” added Sergii Marchenko. 

The Platform also focused on coordinating recovery efforts between Ukraine and its donor partners. The Government is actively implementing the Public Investment Management (PIM) reform to streamline project selection and prioritize key sectors of the economy. This is a comprehensive reform that includes a change in approaches to the selection of projects in which the state will invest. Given Ukraine's significant need for recovery, PIM will help systematize all projects and priority areas of the economy.

Sergii Marchenko noted the approval of the pilot Single Project Pipeline. He also thanked the World Bank, the European Commission, and the IMF for their expert support in this process.

Currently, the project portfolio consists of a total of 769 projects worth more than USD 60 billion.

The Ukrainian side also assured that despite the war and challenges, the Government continues to implement structural reforms. 

The Minister of Finance highlighted two main directions. The first is European integration, as all reform measures must align with EU standards and recommendations. The second is economic growth. Both short-term and long-term economic growth, along with increasing domestic revenues, are essential components for the fastest possible recovery from the devastating effects of the full-scale war.

To ensure the transparency of the implementation of all conditions and recommendations in cooperation with partners, the Ministry of Finance is systematically updating the Reforms Matrix. This is a tool that systematizes all measures and supports their effective implementation. 

*UAH 495.3 billion, as it is outlined in the recently adopted amendments by the Parliament of Ukraine to the Law of Ukraine "On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2024" concerning the financial provision of the security and defense sector.