By KYIV. Nov 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – After the positive vote of the European Parliament last week on the provision of EUR 18 billion to finance the state budget deficit of Ukraine in 2023, the Ministry of Finance is waiting for the final decision of the EU member states in the European Council on December 6 and then the rapid completion of all internal procedures, Deputy Minister Olha Zykova has said.
"It is extremely important for us to receive the first tranche in January. It is the stability and predictability of receipts that guarantee the correct coverage of socio-economic costs," she said during the national telethon.
Zykova said that this is a loan, but for a long term on favorable terms: and the EU budget will cover interest on the use of these funds.
"70% (of the loan) will be provided by the amounts provided from the EU budget," the Deputy Minister said, explaining that the funds will be raised by the EU on the market.
She said that this EU financial assistance package is extremely important, as it covers half of the 2023 state budget deficit, estimated at $38 billion. "We managed to reduce the monthly deficit from $5 billion this year to $3-3.5 billion next year," Zykova recalled.
According to her, the Ministry of Finance hopes that by the end of the year it will already have a general picture of financing the budget deficit for the next year.
As the Deputy Minister said, one of the key donors will remain the United States. Negotiations on this issue with the U.S. Department of the Treasury are held almost daily. She said that the White House has already submitted a proposal to the U.S. Congress for approval, which is a package of $37.7 billion for comprehensive support – defense, humanitarian, and financial.
"In the context of direct budget support, the amount for 9 months of the 2023 fiscal year will be $10 billion. We are counting on approximately the amount of direct budget support of $1.1 billion per month from the United States," Zykova said.
She added that the Ukrainian Finance Ministry expects "the IMF to come into play" and that the four-month monitoring program requested by Ukraine will be followed by a full-fledged program involving funding.
