Ukraine requests urgent meeting with international donors due to budget problems – Bloomberg

It is unclear how the recipients responded to the letter or whether they agreed to the meeting.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal has sounded the alarm about the country’s finances, demanding an urgent meeting with international donors as Kiev faces “exceptionally high uncertainty” over its budget at the start of the year .

In a letter to the key coordination group overseeing funding, the prime minister said that funding is needed next month and should be directed to the basic needs of Ukraine’s budget, Bloomberg writes .

The message bolsters Ukraine’s calls as more than $110 billion in financial aid is delayed by political infighting in the United States and European Union.

“To maintain macroeconomic stability, it is critical that we receive sufficient, prompt and predictable external funding starting in January 2024,” Shmyhal said in a letter sent this month to the Interagency Donor Coordination Group.

The prime minister said the MDCP, which was created by G7 leaders in December 2022 to coordinate international funding, should focus on immediate budget needs – keeping the government running on teachers, civil servants and pensions – rather than longer-term challenges .

“It is hardly possible to have any discussion about recovery and reconstruction projects when we are struggling to meet survival priorities until 2024,” Shmygal said in the letter.

Donors are scheduled to meet in January ahead of a planned meeting next month, he said. It is unclear how the recipients responded to the letter or whether they agreed to the meeting earlier.

“We cannot wait until March to finance our social needs,” the prime minister said.

Shmygal called on donors to begin coordinating actions to channel frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine.

Ukraine’s ability to generate funds independently, including raising tax revenues, devaluing the hryvnia, or using a central bank, is limited and is considered risky by the Ministry of Finance. But the prime minister said they would be used as a temporary solution until international funds arrived.

“We will make every effort to close the funding gap, but your timely support is needed now more than ever,” Shmyhal said.

(C)UNIAN 2023