MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Ukraine’s budget received almost $14 billion of foreign aid in the first half of the year, the country’s Finance Ministry reported.

"Financing of the state budget of Ukraine for the first half of 2024 amounts to $20.2 billion. External financing amounts to $13.8 billion. Domestic government loan bonds account for $6.4 billion," the ministry’s Telegram channel says.

As the ministry noted, the largest donors during this period were the European Union, Japan, Canada, and the IMF. In June, the volume of external financing increased due to a tranche of 1.9 billion euros (over $2 billion) from the EU, and the issue of government bonds made it possible to attract $1.4 billion to the state budget.

"In general, international assistance [since February 2022] reaches $87.4 billion, funds raised from the issue of government bonds - more than $29 billion," the statement says.

A week ago, Ukraine’s Finance Ministry reported that in the first five months of this year the country spent $18 billion on military needs, which amounted to almost 60% of all budget expenditures. Military spending remains a priority and the largest spending item. However, they are financed only by their own tax revenues and war bonds.

In recent months, amid a budget deficit, the Ukrainian authorities have been considering the inevitability of raising taxes and cutting social spending. For the second year in a row, the country's government is drawing up a budget with a record deficit, counting on covering the bulk of it with help from Western partners. This year, the deficit will be $43.9 billion.

As Ukrainian Finance Minister, Sergey Marchenko, admitted, only a quarter of Western financial assistance received in 2023 was provided in the form of grants, that is, free of charge. At the end of last year, Ukraine’s public debt reached 80% of GDP.