EU funding delays imperil Ukraine’s ‘macro-financial stability’, says official

Ukraine has warned that political squabbling between EU capitals on a fresh financial package for Kyiv is putting the country’s “macro-financial stability” at risk, compounding concerns over future funding from the US. Brussels has proposed a €50 billion package to support Ukraine’s finances for the next four years as part of a broader request for EU governments to top up the bloc’s common budget. This has sparked months of political wrangling between member states with no guarantee a deal will be struck by the end of the year, according to the Financial Times, Report informs.

“We need money in January to keep running,” Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna told the Financial Times. “The timing is pressing, and we really need to have the clarity of what happens from January 1 . . . to lead to a lack of disruption in the financial and macro-financial stability in Ukraine.”

Stefanishyna, who is in charge of Ukraine’s relations with the EU and NATO, said that while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government was hopeful that the EU funding proposal would eventually be agreed, the delay was a cause for concern.

“So we are really positive, but probably we have to have sort of a safe scenario to make sure that [while] it takes the necessary time to adopt this decision, it’s not disrupting the ongoing financial framework,” she told the FT’s Global Boardroom event.