Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
"29,5 billion dollars at risk and another 27 billion uncovered": Koretsky named Ukraine's financial challenges
Prime Minister Serhii Koretsky spoke about two financial challenges for this year: 29,5 billion at risk and another 27 billion uncovered for the defense forces.
The Prime Minister said this at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) forum.
Ukraine's financial needs consist of two blocks: 29,5 billion dollars of confirmed macro-financial programs and another 27 billion dollars for new defense needs.
According to Koretsky, the first block — 29,5 billion dollars — is confirmed by the Ukrainian Support Loan and Ukraine Facility macro-financial programs, and the responsibility for obtaining them lies with the government and the parliament.
"Regarding finances. We have two blocks of issues. The first is 29,5 billion dollars, which are confirmed by macro-financial programs, Ukrainian Support Loan, Ukraine Facility. They must be fulfilled, and there are two points of responsibility – the parliament and the government," the Prime Minister said.
He said the government needs to finalize 42 documents – resolutions and decisions of the government and government authorities – and also submit draft laws to parliament necessary to obtain the funds.
In parliament, he said, adoption of another 27 draft laws is currently awaited.
"The government must finish everything that was left unfinished this year, and unfortunately a lot has accumulated. These are 42 different documents, resolutions, appropriate decisions of the government and government authorities. And submit the laws to parliament that are required for voting and receiving those funds. But there are already 27 draft laws in parliament that require adoption by parliament. Unfortunately, this work is still imperfect," Koretsky noted.
The Prime Minister promised that the government will complete its part of the work by mid-October.
"I guarantee on behalf of the government that we will solve our homework and the accumulated problems during September and the first decade, possibly the first half of October. The laws will all be submitted immediately in September, and all Cabinet decisions and resolutions will be done by 15 October. Although we promised by 1 November – it's just that too much has accumulated," he said.
At the same time, Koretsky criticized the pace of parliament's work and urged deputies to vote for necessary laws regardless of political views or ratings.
"But parliament, unfortunately, is not yet showing the same determination, and I again appeal to all parliamentarians, regardless of political views, despite ratings, perhaps some popular or unpopular decisions. This should simply be an instinct – the country's self-preservation. And these laws must be voted for," the Prime Minister emphasized.
He said the government is ready to cooperate with parliament in working groups on every wording of the draft laws.
"And we, as the government, 100% ready to be useful to parliament, to discuss every word, every wording in working groups in order to be as comfortable as possible and to meet halfway. But it is necessary to vote. So 29,5 confirmed by the programs, yet subject to certain risk of receipt due to the aforementioned factors," Koretsky said.
The second block of financial needs, according to the Prime Minister, amounts to 27 billion dollars — this is the new requirement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"The second part is 27 billion dollars. This is the new need of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It includes all Special Operations Forces, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), border guards, the National Guard and, of course, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. This is the main challenge," he said.
Among possible sources to cover this amount, Koretsky named "accelerating the Ukrainian Support Loan. We are talking with European partners. Using, in one way or another, frozen Russian assets. Additional loans, not grants, but loans from partners outside the European Union. Optimizing all possible expenditures within the Ukrainian budget. And all of this together should make it possible to cover, if not fully 27, then at least the lion's share of these expenses," Koretsky concluded.
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