Finance Ministry briefs international partners on use of U.S. aid funds

Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance is actively cooperating with the World Bank and USAID to ensure that financial assistance provided by the U.S. government is used for its intended purpose.

This was stated by Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko at a meeting with Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Defence Robert Storch, Inspector General of USAID Paul Martin, Acting Inspector General of the U.S. Department of State Diana Shaw and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Ukraine Bridget Brink, Ukrinform reports, referring to the ministry’s press service.

"Since 2022, the Government of Ukraine, the World Bank and USAID have been implementing a multi-level system of monitoring and auditing the direct budgetary support of the United States, which has reached USD 23 billion since the beginning of the full-scale war. The assistance was directed to public sector salaries, including doctors, teachers, civil servants,  except for the security forces, emergency workers, and state social assistance. The Ministry of Finance is committed to accountability and efficient use of financial aid from our partners,” Marchenko said.

The parties discussed the measures taken by the Government of Ukraine, together with international partners, to ensure transparency in the use of U.S. assistance.

Together with Deloitte Consulting, which implements the USAID SOERA project, the Ministry of Finance monitors the use of direct budget support from the US Government, and with the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Ukraine, conducts an audit according to agreed procedures to determine the allowable public expenditures made by Ukraine under the PEACE in Ukraine project.

“In cooperation with the World Bank, all disbursements are made on the basis of monthly reports, separately for each category of employees and recipients of social state aid. The use of this mechanism facilitates the rapid disbursement of funds to the Ukrainian Government while ensuring transparency. Before disbursing funds to the Government of Ukraine, the World Bank also conducts an expenditure review to ensure that funds are used only for their intended purpose - to provide essential services to the population of Ukraine,” the statement says.

As reported, since Russia’s full-scale invasion, international partners have provided Ukraine with $73.7 billion in financial assistance.