The state budget of Ukraine will soon receive a grant from the United States in the amount of almost USD 3.9 billion. This is the first tranche of direct budget support from the United States in 2024. The money will be used to pay salaries to public sector employees and social benefits.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the agreement was signed by Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and Bob Som, the World Bank's Regional Director for Eastern Europe (Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine).
Earlier, the government decided to raise the money.
The funds will be used to pay salaries to teachers, emergency responders, government employees, and to support priority social expenditures (payments to internally displaced persons, low-income families, and people with disabilities).
This is the first tranche of direct budget support from the United States in 2024. The planned amount of financial assistance from the United States for the current year is USD 7.8 billion.
The funds will be provided through the Public Expenditure Assistance for Sustainable Governance in Ukraine (PEACE in Ukraine) project, which is the World Bank's key financial instrument to assist Ukraine. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, it has been bringing together foreign donors to provide critical support to the government of Ukraine.
The PEACE in Ukraine project has already attracted more than USD 25 billion to the state budget since June 2022. This agreement will increase the amount of budgetary support under the project to almost USD 30 billion, of which more than 80% is from the United States.