Ukraine is finding it harder to secure financial support, as the attention of officials in key donor countries shifts to upcoming elections and geopolitical tensions heighten, Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko has said in an interview with Reuters.
“I see a lot of tiredness, I see a lot of weakness among our partners, they would like to forget about the war but the war is still ongoing, full-scale,” Marchenko said on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Marrakech.
According to him, Ukraine is making “twice the effort right now to convince our partners to provide us with support compared to the last annual meetings” in April.
As the war with Russia rages on, Ukraine needs to secure Western financial support to cover a $43-billion budget gap in 2024. Talks last week were overshadowed by the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which broke out just as delegates were making their way to Marrakech.
Marchenko said “a geopolitical shift and internal political context in different countries” was dampening governments’ appetite to support Ukraine, mentioning elections scheduled in the U.S. and the European Union next year.
Ukraine has earmarked additional tax receipts and funds to be raised from internal debt, but it will be dependent on outside help for the bulk of next year’s spending requirements.
“We already have some commitments, like $5.4 billion from the IMF program, and we expect commitments from Japan and United Kingdom, and of course, we rely on our key partners and allies the United States and European Union,” Marchenko said.
The EU is working on a 50-billion euro ($52.6 billion) Ukraine package for 2024 through 2027. Marchenko said Ukraine was seeking 18 billion euros of that in 2024, matching the package received for this year.
Marchenko welcomed the efforts to harness frozen Russian state assets, saying that what was previously portrayed by Western backers as an “achievable goal” now “sounds like a plan”.
Marchenko said that Ukraine’s economy was set to grow by 5% in 2024 and sufficient gas storage for the winter should buttress the economy from a potential rise in prices.
Ukraine has received almost $33 billion from the G7 countries since the full-scale war began in February 2022. These funds have become key in ensuring a balanced state budget and financing critical expenditures. (Ukrinform/Business World Magazine)