IMF: Ukraine to require at least $39.5b external financing in 2023

A resident pushes his bike on a snow covered street next to destroyed residential buildings in Borodyanka, near Kyiv on Dec 4, 2022. (DIMITAR DILKOFF / AFP)

KIEV/MOSCOW – Ukraine will require at least $39.5 billion in external financing next year to keep its economy afloat, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Friday, citing a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) projection.

"Staff analysis suggests that external fiscal financing needs would be at least $39.5 billion in a central scenario," the IMF said.

Under a pessimistic scenario, which envisages that Ukraine's gross domestic product will decline by 12.5 percent, the country's foreign financing needs will be around $57 billion, the IMF said

Under a pessimistic scenario, which envisages that Ukraine's gross domestic product will decline by 12.5 percent, the country's foreign financing needs will be around $57 billion, the IMF said.

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According to Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, external financing of Ukraine's state budget is set to reach $30 billion this year.

The Ukrainian economy, which was severely hit by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, is expected to shrink by between 32-35 percent this year after a 3.4 percent growth in 2021.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry disclosed on Saturday information of US high-ranking participants in the military biological studies in Ukraine, many of whom are associated with US intelligence services or pharmaceutical companies.

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The ministry has a document with names of all the key US officials supervising Ukraine's military biological programs, Igor Kirillov, chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, said during a briefing.

The participants include Kenneth Myers, former director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency with the US Department of Defense; Tara O'Toole, executive vice president of In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency; Thomas Frieden, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others, according to Kirillov.

The executors of the military biological programs are the Ukrainian Mechnikov Anti-Plague Research Institute, the Institute of Veterinary Medicine, and the Lviv Research Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene, he said.

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Kirillov said in June that the Pentagon admitted the United States had supported 46 biological research facilities in Ukraine.

source https://eastmud.com/latest-news/imf-ukraine-to-require-at-least-39-5b-external-financing-in-2023/