A $1.25 billion grant from the United States was transferred to Ukraine’s state budget on Thursday through the World Bank’s Multi-Donor Trust Fund, the Ministry of Finance reported.
It clarified that the funds are part of the fifth additional financing under the World Bank’s Public Expenditure Support for Enhanced Accountability and Sustainable Governance in Ukraine (PEACE in Ukraine) project.
Its goal is to partially compensate for state budget expenditures, including social and humanitarian expenditures not related to security and defense.
In 2023, Ukraine received $9.7 billion in direct budget support from the United States in the form of grants. The funding is used to reimburse state budget expenditures: pension payments, payments to the State Emergency Service, salaries for healthcare workers providing services under the Medical Guarantee Program, civil servants and teachers.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the state budget of Ukraine has already received $21.7 billion from the United States. Financial assistance from the United States is provided on a non-refundable basis, which allows us not to increase the debt burden on the state budget. I am grateful to the US government for its solidarity and large-scale support,” Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko said in a press release.
As reported, the government of Ukraine expects to receive another $3.3 billion from the United States by the end of this year, and $12-14 billion next year, but for this to happen, U.S. lawmakers must approve the relevant federal budgets. Discussions on this issue are still ongoing.
The Ministry of Finance added that together with Deloitte Consulting, which is implementing the USAID SOERA project, it is monitoring the use of direct budget support from the US government, and with the auditing company PriceWaterhouseCoopers Ukraine, it is checking the agreed procedures to determine the allowable public expenditures made by Ukraine in 2022.
In addition, to increase the transparency and accountability of the use of external financing, the Ministry of Finance publishes detailed information on the state budget expenditures of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, which were compensated by foreign partners, in particular the United States, under the World Bank’s PEACE in Ukraine project.
The humanitarian agency ZDOROVI delivered 29 tons of humanitarian aid to hospitals in 49 Ukrainian cities and towns in August.
Natalia Tulinova, founder of ZDOROVI, told Interfax-Ukraine that the aid was provided, in part, thanks to the agency’s cooperation with international partners, including ICAP Ednannia, MedShare, Embrace, RAZOM for UKRAINE, NOVA Ukraine, Americares, USAID, PHILIPS, and other charitable foundations and organizations.
She also said that in September, representatives of the ZDOROVI agency team took part in two international conferences – the First Ladies and Gentlemen Summit and the Americares Ukraine Partner Summit – to discuss support for Ukrainian medical institutions and ensuring patients’ access to medical care in the occupied and frontline territories.
“We are building a charitable organization that meets the standards of work in the international community in every detail, so that our donors and partners can be confident in the transparency of the processes related to humanitarian aid to Ukraine,” Tulinova said.
She also emphasized that “a fundamental platform for our country’s full participation in the global healthcare system is being built.”
In these months and years full of challenges, the fundamental platform for our country’s full participation in the global healthcare system is being built.
In September, representatives of the ZDOROVI humanitarian agency team took part in two major international events – the First Ladies and Gentlemen Summit and the Americares Ukraine Partner Summit. Natalia Tulinova, the founder of the National Humanitarian Aid Agency ZDOROVI, told about it.
According to her, the Americares Ukraine Partner Summit discussed support for Ukrainian medical institutions and ensuring patients’ access to medical care in the occupied and frontline territories.
The ZDOROVI team members shared their experience in organizing the delivery of humanitarian medical aid to hospitals in the region with a difficult security situation, their experience of effective interaction with international donors and implementation of large humanitarian projects and missions.
“We are building a charitable organization that meets the standards of work in the international community in every detail, so that our donors and partners can be confident in the transparency of the processes related to humanitarian aid to Ukraine,” explained Natalia Tulinova, founder of ZDOROVI.
She noted that the organization carries out analytical, monitoring and communication work to identify the urgent needs of the sector and provide medical institutions with the necessary assistance, and participates in building a network of international partnerships to support the medical sector in Ukraine.
“The fundamental platform for our country’s full participation in the global healthcare system is being built. We must make every effort to ensure that our partners are confident in the reliability and transparency of cooperation,” Tulinova emphasized.
In August, the ZDOROVI team delivered 29 tons of humanitarian aid to Ukrainian hospitals in 49 locations across the country. The large-scale humanitarian work of ZDOROVI is carried out in cooperation with international partners, including ICAP Ednannia, MedShare, Embrace, RAZOM for UKRAINE, NOVA Ukraine, Americares, USAID, PHILIPS and other charitable foundations and organizations.
Stock indices of Western European countries are falling on Thursday on the hawkish statements of the head of the Federal Reserve System (Fed) Jerome Powell.
The composite index of the largest European companies Stoxx Europe 600 as of 11:38 a.m. fell by 0.73% to 457.31 points.
The British FTSE 100 lost 0.46%, the German DAX – 0.76%, the French CAC 40 – 1.02%. Italy’s FTSE MIB and Spain’s IBEX 35 fell by 1.2% and 0.7%, respectively.
The day before, the Federal Reserve expectedly left the key interest rate at 5.25-5.5% per annum.
Meanwhile, Powell said during a press conference following the meeting that the central bank is ready to raise the rate again if necessary. Powell also noted that a “soft landing” of the US economy is not his baseline scenario, although it is possible.
The dot plot of forecasts – a chart showing the individual expectations of the members of the Fed Board of Governors and the heads of the Federal Reserve Banks (FRBs) regarding interest rates – shows that 12 out of 19 US central bankers expect another rate hike this year.
Later on Thursday, the results of the Bank of England meeting will be announced. Analysts still believe that the British Central Bank will raise the base rate by 25 bps to 5.5%, although after yesterday’s data indicating an unexpected slowdown in inflation in the UK in August, the probability of keeping the rate at the same level has increased slightly.
Shares of mining companies in London are falling amid lower metal prices. Fresnillo, Rio Tinto, Glencore, and Anglo American are all down by more than 1%.
The price of CVS Group shares rises by 3.2%. The British chain of veterinary clinics reported an increase in revenue and pre-tax profit in the last fiscal year amid strong demand for animal care services. The company’s pre-tax profit amounted to 53.9 million pounds ($66.5 million), while revenue amounted to 608.3 million pounds.
JD Sports Fashion’s capitalization increased by 7.8%. The British clothing retailer recorded an increase in pre-tax profit in the first half of the year ended July 31 to 375.2 million pounds from 298.3 million a year earlier, while revenue increased to 4.78 billion pounds from 4.42 billion pounds. Both figures exceeded analysts’ forecasts.
Another clothing retailer, Next PLC, raised its full-year forecasts after a strong performance in the first half of the year. Pre-tax profit in February-July rose to 419.8 million pounds from 400.6 million pounds, while revenue increased to 2.52 billion pounds from 2.38 billion pounds. The forecast of pre-tax profit for the fiscal year was raised to 875 million from 845 million pounds.
Next shares are up 1.9%.
Shares of the Norwegian financial company Storebrand are up 0.8% on the news of the sale of a 50% stake in the insurance joint venture Storebrand Helseforsikring to Ergo International. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Storebrand expects to record a positive effect of NOK 1.1 billion ($102 million) from the deal.
The French supermarket chain Casino Guichard-Perrachon has downgraded its sales and profit forecasts in France for 2024-2028. The company’s shares fell by 4.6%.
In Germany, the leaders of the decline are Sartorius securities, which are down 2.5%, as well as Porsche AG preference shares, which are down 2.1%.
In Paris, Airbus (-2.4%) and Saipem (-3.5%) are actively declining, while in Milan, the stock is down.
Benchmark oil prices continue to decline on Thursday morning, showing negative dynamics for the third consecutive session, despite data on the reduction of fuel stocks in the United States.
The price of November futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 8:09 a.m. is $92.86 per barrel, which is $0.67 (0.72%) lower than at the close of the previous session. On Wednesday, these contracts fell by $0.81 (0.9%) to $93.53 per barrel.
Quotations for November futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time decreased by $0.68 (0.76%) to $88.98 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, they fell by $0.82 (0.9%) to $89.66 per barrel.
Commercial oil inventories in the United States last week decreased by 2.14 million barrels, according to the weekly report of the country’s Energy Ministry. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted a decline of 1.7 million barrels.
Meanwhile, gasoline stocks fell by 831 thousand barrels, and distillate stocks decreased by 2.87 million barrels. Experts expected an increase in gasoline stocks by 1.1 million barrels and an increase in distillate stocks by 1.05 million barrels.
Oil reserves at the Cushing terminal fell by 2.1 million barrels. Meanwhile, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was replenished by 600 thousand barrels.
“We do believe that some consolidation is warranted before the next upside move,” Tariq Zaheer, managing partner at Tyche Capital Advisors, told MarketWatch.
With Russia and Saudi Arabia cutting oil production by the end of the year, it is only a matter of time before Brent prices rise to $100 per barrel, he added.
According to Zaheer, “the rise in oil prices may be hindered by high oil prices, as they will put pressure on demand.”
Key indicators of state budget (monthly), UAH bln
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
