Out of 453 budget programs, 13.5% were not submitted by fund managers to the Ministry of Finance for approval within the established deadline. Additionally, 27% of the submitted programs were rejected due to not meeting the required standards.
Danylo Hetmantsev, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
Considering the current state of public finances and sufficient international reserves, Hetmantsev recommends postponing a portion of the international financial assistance allocated for this year to future periods.
He expressed support for Ukraine’s decision to request the IMF to reduce the next loan tranche, expected at the end of March, from $0.92 billion to $0.4 billion.
“We are not rejecting these funds; we are simply discussing the possibility of postponing payments to the next tranches, until March 2027, as long as the EFF program remains in effect. We can agree with the government’s position. While the budgetary needs for 2025 are largely covered by confirmed international assistance, there is greater uncertainty in 2026 and 2027. Rescheduling a portion of the loan also reduces debt service costs,” Hetmantsev said.
The MP also proposes to “stretch” the guaranteed concessional financing of $50 billion from the use of frozen Russian assets for three years, not one year.
According to him, receiving these funds in 2025 will lead to unreasonable spending on non-priority programs that are either ineffective or are not used effectively by their managers.
“Of the 453 budget programs, 13.5% were not submitted by the relevant managers for approval by the Ministry of Finance by the February 15 deadline, as mandated by the Budget Code. Among the submitted programs, 27% were not approved as they failed to meet the required standards. This issue underscores the urgent need for enhanced accountability and responsibility in fulfilling duties,” stated the Finance Committee chairman.
He believes that postponing the loan terms to potentially “financially unstable” years, when the funds will be critically needed, is a strategic priority for the Ukrainian authorities.
As reported, at the end of February, Ukraine and the IMF reached a staff-level agreement on the seventh review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Arrangement. In a few weeks, the IMF Board of Directors will decide on the next loan tranche for Kyiv, which will be smaller than previously planned. Ukraine has requested a reduction in the loan amount from $0.92 billion to $0.4 billion.
Source: Fund managers fail to submit 13.5% of budget programs on time - Hetmantsev
