KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal hailed a new 1.5 billion euro aid tranche from the European Union on Wednesday, saying it was key to maintaining the country’s macroeconomic stability as war raged on.
Shmyhal also said he hoped for fast approval of the EU’s multi-year 50 billion euro program for Ukraine as uncertainty grew over aid from the United States for the next year.
The finance ministry said the government had received the latest 1.5 bln euro tranche from the EU, bringing the bloc’s total aid to 16.5 billion euros so far this year.
“It helps us to maintain economic resilience during the large-scale war,” Shmyhal said on the Telegram messaging app.
“We expect that the new multi-year support mechanism — Ukraine Facility — worth 50 billion euros will be approved by the EU member states as soon as possible.”
The war with Russia, now in its 21 month, has severely hit the Ukrainian economy, with the government relying heavily on financial support from Western allies for social spending.
The finance ministry said in a statement it hoped to receive one more aid tranche from the EU in December. The EU was the largest financial donor to Ukraine this year, finance ministry data showed.
Ukraine faces a budget gap of about $43 billion next year and the government plans to cover the deficit with foreign financial assistance.
Kyiv hopes to receive about 18 billion euros from the EU’s Ukraine Facility programme next year, when it is also seeking $12-14 billion in economic support from the United States.
However, the U.S. package is still to be approved.
(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
