Within the framework of IMF and WB Annual Meetings, the team of Ministry of Finance is actively cooperating with international partners to attract the necessary financing for 2024: Sergii Marchenko for Atlantic Council

In an interview with the Atlantic Council, Sergii Marchenko spoke about the state of Ukraine's economy, financial needs for the next year, cooperation with the IMF, attracting investment for recovery and using russia's seized assets for the benefit of Ukraine.

"Effective policies of the Government of Ukraine and strong financial support from international partners continue contributing to Ukraine's macro-financial stability. Even in the face of war, Ukraine's economy is showing a gradual recovery. GDP is forecast to grow to 4.7% in 2023, inflation has been declining for 9 consecutive months - from 26.6% in 2022 to 7.1% in September 2023", the Minister of Finance said.

Sergii Marchenko stressed that despite the positive economic indicators, the war continues to provoke uncertainty.

"We have recently prepared a draft State Budget for 2024, which provides for significant resources to be allocated to the security and defence sector. This is almost 50% of the State Budget expenditures next year, which will be fully financed by domestic revenues. At the same time, international assistance to cover the costs of social protection and humanitarian support for Ukrainians remains vital for us.  The need for external financing for 2024 is about USD 43 billion. Within the framework of the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, the team of the Ministry of Finance is actively cooperating with donors to attract the necessary financing for the next year," said Sergii Marchenko.

Regarding the cooperation with the IMF, the Minister of Finance noted that the Government of Ukraine is making every effort to perform the structural benchmarks set out in the EFF programme. The second review of the programme is expected next month. A successful review will not only facilitate Ukraine's receipt of the next tranche from the IMF, but also attract large-scale financing from other donors.

In the context of discussing the attraction of private investment in Ukraine's recovery, Sergii Marchenko spoke about the development of war risk insurance in Ukraine. He also thanked the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank Group for establishing the SURE war risk insurance Trust Fund. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, MIGA has provided Ukraine with guarantees totaling USD 196 million, which are used to implement insurance projects in Ukraine.

The Minister of Finance also spoke about the cooperation with international partners on the use of the seized assets of russia. 

"The frozen assets of the russian federation should become the basis for further financing the restoration and reconstruction of Ukraine. We hope that our allies will find and implement mechanisms to use the seized assets for the benefit of Ukraine". - added Sergii Marchenko.