Sergii Marchenko discussed further cooperation with Deputy Administrator of USAID and Ambassador of the United States to Ukraine 

On February 9, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko met with USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman and U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Ann Brink.

The parties discussed the state of Ukraine's financial system, additional needs of the 2023 budget, as well as cooperation under the Memorandum of Understanding on the cooperation development between USAID SOERA, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and Deloitte Consulting LLC signed in the fall of 2022.

"Since the first day of russia's full-scale invasion, the United States has provided Ukraine with unprecedented comprehensive support. When the financial system faced the challenge of meeting all priority expenditures during a significant decline in State Budget revenues and increased defense spending, the United States was among the first to support us and continues to demonstrate leadership in mobilizing assistance for Ukraine, in particular through USAID. Thanks to our cooperation, the Government of Ukraine is able to finance such urgent needs as paying salaries to teachers and healthcare workers, as well as pensions and assistance to internally displaced persons. We are particularly grateful for the provision of funds in the form of grants, which allows us not to increase our debt burden. This is extremely crucial for the Government of Ukraine to have such a reliable partners and friends at this considerable time for our country," said Sergii Marchenko.

Since February 24, 2022, the United States has provided Ukraine with about USD 13 billion in direct budget support in the form of grants. Including a USD 1.7 billion grant from USAID which Ukraine received in July 2022 to partially reimburse State Budget expenditures for payments to healthcare workers. The funds were provided through the World Bank's Trust Fund. 

The parties also discussed the financial needs of the Ministry of Finance for the current year. Sergii Marchenko welcomed the decision of the U.S. Government to provide Ukraine with grant assistance totaling USD 9.9 billion through 2023, but noted that additional external financing is needed up to USD 10 billion. In this context, the parties discussed Ukraine's cooperation with the International Monetary Fund and the new Multi-Agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine, which was launched to improve the coordination of financial support for Ukraine. 

Since the fall of 2022, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and the USAID SOERA have been working closely together to optimize and strengthen the current monitoring, verification and reporting systems of the Government of Ukraine, as well as to enhance the strategic communication of the Government of Ukraine on the use of these funds.

The Minister of Finance of Ukraine emphasized that the transparency and efficiency of the use of funds from international partners is an absolute priority of the Government of Ukraine.

Isobel Coleman highly praised the efforts of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine in ensuring accountability and transparency in the use of budget support from the U.S.

The parties agreed to cooperate closely to provide urgent support to the population of Ukraine, implementation of recovery, as well as control over the responsible use of funds provided by the United States Government.

Additional Information

September 23, 2022, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko, USAID Mission Director in Ukraine James Hope and Chief of Party of the USAID State-Owned Enterprise Reform Agency (SOERA) Craig R. VanDevelde signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the cooperation development between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and Deloitte Consulting LLC.

The Memorandum envisages tripartite cooperation to optimize and strengthen the existing systems of the Government of Ukraine regarding monitoring, transparency, verification, and reporting, which are used to manage all direct budget support funds from the U.S. Government.