US to grant Ukraine further $4.9 billion in ‘budget support’
The Biden administration has announced plans to grant the Ukrainian government an additional $4.9 billion in monetary aid next September “to provide critical services for its citizens.”
Noting that the Washington has already "provided $18 billion in budget support to the Government of Ukraine through World Bank mechanisms,” the US State Department announced in a Friday statement “an additional $4.9 billion will become available in September” for Kiev.
“This funding, along with support from the EU, the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and others, allows the government to provide critical services for its citizens … ," the statement added.
The monetary funding comes in addition to more than $35 billion in pledged and already delivered US military aid to Ukraine since February 2022, when the conflict with Russia began in the country.
The development came after Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated on Thursday that his country was underfunded by $14 billion critically needed for reconstruction, expressing optimism that the United States would lead efforts to raise the fund.
According to the State Department’s statement, authorities in Kiev have come up with a 10-year reconstruction plan requiring an estimated $750 billion while the World Bank estimates that Ukraine’s reconstruction will cost $411 billion over the next 10 years.
It is not clear, however, how the Western-sponsored government in Kiev is drafting reconstruction plans for the country while there is no end in sight for the ongoing destructive war with Russia, mainly driven by the massive flow of weaponry to Ukraine.
The development follows startling remarks by Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, describing Ukraine as “a non-existent country in financial terms,” further insisting that the war in Ukraine would only end as soon as the West stops lavishing Kiev with money.
“Effectively, Ukraine is a non-existent country in financial terms. The fall in economic indicators is huge, which is completely understandable due to the war. Obviously, Ukraine can’t finance itself,” Orban underlined in a radio interview on Friday.
He further expressed concerns that the European Union is now providing funds for Ukrainian pensions, salaries, education, and healthcare needs, without assigning these funds to its own affairs.
He also emphasized the EU can’t keep up supporting Ukraine “indefinitely”, and that the question now is whether the West wants to continue sustaining Kiev.
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