Almost exactly a month after Ukraine declared a $27 billion (€23.5 billion) budget shortfall, the EU is no closer to figuring out how to plug the gap – or to determining what the deficit actually is.
Russia’s brutal aerial attacks, naval blockade, and smaller-than-expected funding from Western allies mean that Kyiv’s shortfall is almost certainly larger than initially anticipated. The International Monetary Fund is also struggling to figure out what exactly the country requires. A recent IMF delegation to Kyiv failed to significantly clarify the issue.
Maksym Samoiliuk, a senior economist at the Kyiv-based Centre for Economic Strategy, similarly noted that the war’s escalation means Ukraine requires considerably more money, although the total amount is “likely to be lower” than the $27 billion requested.
“There is a substantial additional need because the cost of the war has increased beyond what was assumed when the current budget was prepared,” he said.
