The state budget has a gap of $5 billion needed to purchase weapons because Western aid has been minimal over the past six months. This was stated by Finance Minister Sergiy Marchenko.
He said that over the past six months, Ukraine has received minimal aid from its partners in the military sphere, which has put an additional burden on the budget in terms of additional military expenditures. Now this is being covered, and the end-of-year expenses are being shifted to the necessary purchase of weapons, ordering of shells and other things that are needed now.
“At the moment, I think we can talk about a figure of about $5 billion. I use this figure in dollars because it is easier for me to explain this gap to our partners. This is a gap that is forming at the moment, and we are thinking about how we will cover it in the near future,” he said.
According to him, the issue is quite urgent, as there are certain obligations to partners, there is an International Monetary Fund program.
“But these expenditures involve a different set of tools than, for example, finding partner funds. That is, we have to cover these expenses on our own, and they are quite large. So the question remains, but we have a plan,” he said.
The Minister reminded that there will be an IMF mission in the coming weeks.
“We need to successfully pass the fourth review of the program. We have taken all the steps to make it successful. And then we will communicate with our partners, look for ways and solutions,” Marchenko added.
According to him, after the unblocking of the US aid package, the social and humanitarian expenditures are theoretically covered.
“But in practice, we have a big fiscal problem, or, let's say, an unresolved issue of military nature, the so-called military expenditures,” he said.
As we reported earlier, the Ministry of Finance is developing a draft law to increase the military tax and value added tax.
