Minister of Finance of Ukraine discussed priority budget needs with the IMF and the European Commission

During a working visit to Washington, DC, for the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko held a series of meetings with the management of the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission. 

The meetings were attended by Deputy Minister of Finance for European Integration Yuriy Draganchuk, Deputy Minister of Finance Olga Zykova and Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management Yuriy Butsa.

• Meeting with Director of the IMF's European Department Alfred Kammer,  Deputy Director of the IMF's European Department Uma Ramakrishnan and IMF Mission Chief for Ukraine Gavin Gray. 

The parties discussed Ukraine's implementation of the defined conditionalities under the IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement. 

In 2024, the EFF arrangement provides for USD 5.4 billion of budgetary assistance to Ukraine, of which USD 880 million has already been disbursed as a result of the successful third review of the program. 

"The further functioning of the IMF arrangement is extremely important, and Ukraine is responsibly meeting the jointly agreed terms of cooperation. The implementation of these measures and policies will help maintain macro-financial stability and promote European integration. In 2024, under the EFF arrangement, we expect to successfully complete three more reviews, attracting budget support of USD 4.5 billion," said Minister of Finance Sergii Marchenko. 

During the meeting, Sergii Marchenko outlined the priorities of the State Budget for 2024. The budget for security and defense amounts to USD 46 billion and is the largest part of expenditures. Another important task is to ensure the timely payment of all social expenditures. In this context, the Minister of Finance emphasized that the financial support of international partners plays a key role.

The IMF representatives highly appreciated the efforts of the Government of Ukraine to adapt the financial system to the uncertainty, including the measures taken in early 2024 due to the delay in external financing.

• Meeting with the Executive Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis.

During the meeting, Sergii Marchenko thanked Valdis Dombrovskis for his significant support of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, in particular, for timely and long-term assistance:

"The European Union has been a key partner and donor of Ukraine since the first days of russia's aggressive war against Ukraine. Since February 2022, the State Budget has received more than EUR 30 billion in macro-financial assistance under EU initiatives. In 2024, the EU continues to be a leader in budget support for Ukraine. In March, the EU disbursed EUR 4.5 billion of Bridge financing. We expect to receive the next tranche of EUR 1.5 billion in April." 

On April 15, the European Commission approved the Ukraine Plan under the Ukraine Facility worth EUR 50 billion for 2024-2027. The Minister of Finance of Ukraine expressed gratitude to the European Commission for the positive assessment of the document: "This is an important step that paves the way for regular and predictable support for Ukraine from the EU. We expect that within the next month the EU Council will finally approve the Ukraine Plan".

Sergii Marchenko and Valdis Dombrovskis discussed the implementation of reforms, in particular those that are a condition for receiving EU assistance. Ukraine Plan includes 69 reforms and 10 investments broken down into 146 qualitative and quantitative indicators. 

Ukraine has already implemented some of the indicators, in particular, in February 2024, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine approved the Strategic Plan for the Digitalization of the State Customs Service.