MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. Ukraine will have sufficient funds to last only until the end of summer if the US does not provide any further aid, Daniil Getmantsev, chair of the Verkhovna Rada (unicameral parliament) Finance Committee, said.
"If the issue of money from the US is not resolved in April, then we will have enough money only until the end of summer," he said in an interview with the RBC-Ukraine news agency, reiterating that the Ukrainian government is working with its political partners to seek additional budget funds.
Meanwhile, experts polled by the agency are even more pessimistic. In their opinion, despite external financing, which since the beginning of the year has only now started to materialize in large amounts from the IMF, EU and Canada (about $7 bln), Kiev is running out of money. "Right now, we are covering the January-April needs and this is if Japan provides some funds and the EU transfers the second installment of 1.5 bln euros. Given substantial revenues from tax hikes on banks and the dividends of state-owned companies, we are more or less set until June. Yet, at least $3 bln in international financing is needed per month and, so far, we have not reached that level in annual terms," Alexander Parashchiy, head of analytics at Concorde Capital, said.
Vitaly Vavrishchuk, head of macroeconomic research at the ICU Group, has a similar forecast. In his opinion, given substantial postponed expenses that had to be delayed in January-February, financial aid provided in March is unlikely to last for more than two months.
The agency noted that the lack of money is being offset by internal borrowing with the Finance Ministry holding auctions to float government bonds almost weekly. Since the beginning of the year, more than 100 bln hryvnias (about $2.6 bln) has been brought in to state coffers this way.
In April, the US House of Representatives intends to vote on earmarking additional financing for Ukraine. According to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (Republican-Texas), House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican-Louisiana) intends to put the matter to a vote once lawmakers return from their two-week Easter break. McCaul did not specify as to whether the vote will be held on April 9, the first day the US Congress will be in session following the break.