The Ministry of Finance plans to activate internal resources.
In January-February 2024, Ukraine will face risks of financing state budget expenditures, since assistance from Western partners is insufficient.
This was announced on Thursday, December 21, by the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergei Marchenko during a review of macroeconomic forecasts for 2024 from the Center for Economic Strategies, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
“Unfortunately, in January-February the decisions made by the partners were not enough [to finance budget needs] for us to cope on our own. That’s why we have a plan B mechanism in place,” he said.
According to the minister, his department has planned measures aimed at attracting available domestic resources in the near future, in particular, advance payment of dividends from state-owned companies, as well as increasing the volume of borrowing on the domestic market.
“The situation is not critical, but there is an understanding that during this period we need to rely as much as possible on internal resources,” said the head of the Ministry of Finance, adding that his department is working closely with the National Bank to solve this problem.
Sergei Marchenko emphasized that the greatest uncertainty is associated with spending on the security and defense sector.
“We cannot know in advance at what point there will be something missing. There are too many questions about the efficiency of using funds in this area,” the minister emphasized.
Let us recall that on November 28, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky signed the law on the state budget of Ukraine for 2024. The budget deficit amounts to 1,571.5 billion hryvnia and must be covered by the assistance provided to Ukraine by Western partners.