International partners allocate more than $23B to finance Ukraine’s budget deficit – PM Shmyhal

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“Over the past six months, the state budget has received UAH 1.302 trillion worth of tax payments, duties and other charges. The amount of expenditures came to UAH 1.784 trillion during that period. We are grateful to all taxpayers working to ensure economic stability. We are grateful to international partners, who have allocated more than USD 23 billion to finance the budget deficit since the beginning of the year,” Shmyhal wrote.

In his words, security and defense are remaining the top priority. About half of the total funds available in the budget is spent on these sectors. The second priority is social support programs, which have received UAH 231 billion from the budget over six months. The key areas of spending also include healthcare, education, regional support and reconstruction.

According to Shmyhal, more than UAH 1.7 billion has already been allocated from the state budget for the restoration of health facilities across nine regions of Ukraine.

Additionally, water mains are being laid in the Dnipropetrovsk region to provide people with drinking water after Russia’s terrorist attack at Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP). A total of UAH 1.5 billion was allocated for this project, and relevant works are expected to be completed this autumn.

The Ukrainian government also began to work on the European Union’s four-year programme, Ukraine Facility, which is intended to help the country with financing for the budget and reconstruction projects. In this regard, the Government established an Interagency Working Group to prepare an action plan for the implementation of reforms and changes.