30 Mar 2023 11:33

Ukrainian Finance Ministry to focus on raising funds for recovery

MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax) - Reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program worth $15.6 billion allows the Ukrainian authorities to speak about the prospects of solving the problem of financing the 2023 state budget deficit and the possibility of actively seeking funds for recovery, Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko said.

"We are also actively working to raise funds for recovery, and this will now be the main focus and priority of our activities," Ukrainian media quoted Marchenko as saying during the national telethon on Wednesday.

The EFF is an anchor program, which helps combine donor support, he said.

"If all the obligations that the G7 countries have assumed are fulfilled, we can cover the state budget deficit for 2023," he added.

When speaking about raising funds for Ukraine's recovery, the minister said that this year Ukraine will be able to make use of no more than $14 billion - "these are the figures that were agreed upon by World Bank experts together with the relevant departments: the Ministry of Restoration and other ministries."

As reported, the Ukrainian government, the World Bank Group, the European Commission, and the United Nations recently raised their estimates of Ukraine's recovery needs as of February 24, 2023 to $411 billion from the June 1, 2022 estimate of $349 billion.

According to RDNA2, priority recovery efforts in Ukraine will require $14 billion in investments.

The amount of financing to cover the 2023 budget deficit in Ukraine is estimated at $38 billion at the very least.