There will be sufficient funds in Ukraine’s budget to finance the Defence Forces through to the end of the year in full. This sector is the main focus, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said during the government question time.
Due to a temporary liquidity gap, the Cabinet of Ministers temporarily suspended regional payments and non-priority capital investment. As of 30 October, all regional payments for the previous month have been processed.
They expect to complete all October payments within a few days.
Koretskyi stressed that the involvement of the Verkhovna Rada is needed to obtain further macro-financial assistance.
“The week before last showed good results. Once again, thank you for that. Laws were passed, as were the so-called parcels packages, which gives confidence that at least €4 billion will be received in November. But the overall need is about 29 (€bn. – Ed.),” he said.
The Prime Minister said the government had fulfilled its share of commitments, which will secure part of the planned inflows in November. However, difficult draft laws remain, which the Verkhovna Rada must support no later than the next plenary week.
“Otherwise, if this is delayed, then unfortunately the money will not arrive this year. And there will be problems with payments, including under the resilience plans and others. But there is no threat to payments for the Defence Forces, and I guarantee that we will pay absolutely all expenditures,” the head of government assured.
Context
In September, the Cabinet of Ministers announced maximum spending cuts due to a lack of funds in the budget. Ukraine failed to meet some of its commitments to partners, which led to the loss of funds it had been counting on.
In particular, funding was halted for measures to implement the Resilience Plans. In October, the Verkhovna Rada voted to abolish preferential customs clearance for parcels containing orders from foreign marketplaces, which was part of the commitments.
On 16 October, the government began gradually releasing funds that had been suspended.