The prime minister has urged a group of Western donors to meet in January
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. © Halldor KOLBEINS / AFP
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal has sent a letter to an international group coordinating funds, to request an emergency meeting with Western donors, as Kiev confronts “exceptionally high uncertainty” over its budget, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
According to the outlet, Shmygal sent a letter this month to the Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine, urging Western sponsors help cover the budget shortfall.
“To uphold macroeconomic stability, it is imperative that we receive sufficient, prompt, and predictable external financing, beginning January 2024,” Shmygal wrote.
The Ukrainian economy relies almost entirely on financial support from the West, and Kiev has voiced concerns as to whether the flow will continue, as new aid packages were recently blocked both in the European Union and in the US.
The Finance Ministry said last week that Kiev’s fiscal needs for 2024 are estimated at $37.3 billion, after more than $42 billion in foreign aid received this year. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian budget may suffer a deficit in the first two months of the year, according to Finance Minister Sergey Marchenko.
“It is hardly possible to hold any discussion about recovery and rebuilding projects, when we are struggling to fulfil the 2024 survival priorities,” Shmygal reportedly said in the letter. He also requested holding a donors’ meeting in January, ahead of a scheduled gathering in February.
US lawmakers in the House of Representatives have blocked a bill for the next major Ukraine aid package worth $60 billion, which President Joe Biden requested in October.
Another package from the EU worth €50 billion ($55.6 billion) was blocked by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban this month.
Earlier, Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov compared the national economy to a “zombie” that only shows signs of life with Western financing, saying that it was “falling apart” with minimal GDP growth and a looming devaluation of the hryvnia.
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