KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine will receive 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) from the European Union via its four-year Ukraine facility in the next two months, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.
The government expects to receive 4.5 billion euros in March and another 1.5 billion euros in April, Shmyhal told a government meeting.
“This year, we aim to receive about 16 billion euros from the European Union. Ukraine will have the resources to fight and win. It is our key objective and we will do everything possible for it,” Shmyhal said.
With the war against Russia now in its third year, Ukraine is critically dependent on economic and military support from its Western allies.
Billions in economic aid in the first two years of the war helped the government to maintain macroeconomic stability, tame inflation and ensure timely payments of pensions and public sector wages.
Ukraine channels most of its domestic budget revenues to fund its defence efforts.
Finance ministry data showed that Ukraine received about $73.6 billion in foreign financing in 2022 and 2023.
But in the first two months of this year, Kyiv received only $1.2 billion as major financing packages were delayed or blocked.
Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko has said the country needs about $3 billion a month to be able to get through 2024.
The government borrowed more from the domestic debt market and asked the state companies to make some obligatory budget payments in advance to meet spending needs in the first two months of the year.
The European Union eventually approved its four-year 50 billion euro financing program for Ukraine last month, military and economic aid from the United States remains stalled.
($1 = 0.9133 euros)
(Reporting by Juliia Dysa and Olena Harmash; Editing by Ros Russell)
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