Olga Zykova: Ukraine needs predictability and rhythm of external financing in 2023

Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Olga Zykova took part in a panel discussion on the topic “How the world supported us” as part of the forum “Anti-fragility of Ukraine: Lessons of 2022”, organized by the Center for Economic Strategy (CES).

“The deficit of the state budget in 2022 is USD 5 billion every month. In the next year, the deficit is predicted to be smaller than this year's - in the amount of USD 3-3.5 billion per month. Negotiations are ongoing and close cooperation with international partners continues regarding the attraction of external funding, because one of the extremely important tasks of the next year is the preservation of the economic stability of the state and provision of all social expenditures of the state budget,” said the Deputy Minister of Finance.

Olga Zykova also noted that Ukraine has already attracted USD 25 billion of external financing to the state budget since the beginning of the full-scale war. In its turn, the policy of Ukraine's interaction with international partners is based on the principles of transparency and accountability.

Deputy Minister of Finance Olga Zykova also emphasized that the rhythmic inflow of external funding is extremely important. In particular, the European Commission created a mechanism for predictable and stable receipt of Macro-Financial Assistance for the next year - this allows us to forecast expenses and focus on other issues, for example, the rapid recovery of Ukraine.

“Yes, the Macro-Financial Assistance of the European Union is a preferential long-term loan provided on very favorable terms, and the interest rates are mostly covered by the member states. The United States, for example, has the opportunity to provide grants, which are a priority form for us, because they do not create a debt burden at all,” Deputy Minister of Finance.

We will remind that from February 24, 2022, the United States provided Ukraine with USD 8.5 billion in grant funds from the Trust Fund of many donors of the World Bank within the framework of the project Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance in Ukraine (PEACE).