Ukraine expects to receive $45 bln from partners in 2023 - NBU
MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - Assurances received from international partners allow Ukraine to expect for now to receive $45 billion in financial assistance in 2023, though political risks are increasing, National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Deputy Governor Sergei Nikolaichuk said.
"Of course, there are high risks that this financial assistance could be on a smaller scale. These risks have indeed increased over the past month or two. However, the assurances that we have been receiving from international partners allow us to pursue the baseline scenario based on the volumes of international aid that are stated in our forecast, i.e. $45 billion for this year, whereas the figure mentioned in our previous forecast was $42 billion," Ukrainian media quoted Nikolaichuk as saying at a press briefing in Kiev on Thursday.
Following the improvement of the estimates regarding the amount of international assistance to be provided to Ukraine, the NBU decided to revise its international reserves forecast upward from $38.3 million in July's forecast to $41.8 billion by the end of the year, he said.
Though the provision of U.S. financing to Ukraine depends to a considerable extent on the internal political situation in the United States itself, the NBU expects "this situation to be resolved as soon as possible and the $60 billion aid package announced by President [Joe] Biden and his administration to become a reality," Nikolaichuk said.
"As of today, our plan B is to work more actively with our international partners, but it will be very difficult to fully offset the shortage of financing from the U.S. or from other international partners," he said.
NBU Governor Andrei Pyshny, in turn, said that the level of partner countries' interest and involvement in Ukraine, their understanding of the importance of external financing for Ukraine gave every reason to hope that these commitments would be met.
"Consequently, it is this understanding of the National Bank, and not of the National Bank alone, that you can see in our macro-forecast and the proposals regarding the level of the gold and forex reserves," Pyshny said.
"International financial partners assumed an obligation to support Ukraine financially in an amount of $115 billion under the baseline scenario of development and $140 billion under the negative scenario. I'd like to remind you that this is the part of the program signed with the International Monetary Fund that links together Ukraine's commitments and the corresponding package of financial support and assistance," he said.