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Finance minister: Ukraine's budget lacks $5 billion for military spending

by Kateryna Denisova May 23, 2024 12:14 PM 1 min read
Ukraine's Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, UK, on Wednesday, June 21, 2023. (Photo credit: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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There is a gap in Ukraine's state budget of $5 billion needed for military expenditures, Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko said in an interview with Hromadske Radio on May 22.

After the U.S. passed a long-awaited $61 billion aid package, the new funds covered Ukraine's social and humanitarian expenditures, Marchenko said.

"In practice, we have a big fiscal problem, an unresolved issue of military expenditures," Marchenko said.

Ukraine received minimal military assistance over the past six months from partners, which has put a strain on the budget in terms of additional military expenditures, according to the minister.

"At the moment, I think we can talk about a figure of about $5 billion... We are thinking about how we will cover it (the deficit) in the near future," Marchenko said.

Ukraine's $40 billion defense budget for this year includes $6 billion for arms procurement, Strategic Industries Minister Alexander Kamyshin said in April.

Kyiv received $1.5 billion in loans from the World Bank in late March. The private financing arm of the World Bank plans to invest $1.9 billion in projects in Ukraine over the next 18 months, Reuters reported in April.

Baltic countries to push for 2.5% of GDP defense spending minimum during NATO summit
The defense ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia met in the Lithuanian town of Palanga on May 22 and agreed on their key goals ahead of the upcoming NATO summit, including an allied commitment to invest at least 2.5% of GDP in defense.

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