Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has received about $13 billion in external funding, including $4.4 billion in June, Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko said on the air of the national telethon on Thursday.
“This month we will receive or expect more than $3 billion. By the end of the year, we are talking about $16 billion to $17 billion, taking into account what has already been received,” he said.
The head of the Ministry of Finance stressed that the government is trying to keep the monthly budget deficit within $5 billion.
“And even make the necessary decisions to narrow this frame,” he added.
According to him, this is not about raising taxes, but about expanding the tax base.
At the same time, Marchenko noted that so far the country cannot do without partial financing of the state budget by the National Bank through the purchase of war bonds.
“These conditions are created by the fact that we are at war. We cannot finance our army from external sources: grants and loans. Our partners do not give us funds for a military campaign. Therefore, a military campaign is either due to taxes or due to, including including the redemption of bonds by the National Bank. This is a temporarily forced step in the conditions when we are at war, “the head of the Ministry of Finance explained.
As reported, since the beginning of the war, the NBU directly financed the state budget through the purchase of “military” bonds for UAH 225 billion, including UAH 105 billion in June.
The shareholders of PrJSC VF Ukraine (provides mobile services under the Vodafone-Ukraine brand) on January 20 decided to provide prior consent to raising funds of up to $1 billion, but the company plans to gradually raise up to $500 million from external sources for the implementation of the development strategy, the operator’s press service has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“At the moment, the company is considering its development strategy. In the near future, we are considering options for phased attraction of external financing in the range of $500 million,” Viktoria Ruban, the head of the public relations department of Vodafone-Ukraine, said.
According to her, attracting external financing on favorable terms is consistent with the company’s development strategy and is a common practice in business.
According to a company report in the information disclosure system of the National Commission for Securities and the Stock Market, the company was allowed to sign loan agreements, agreements on commissions, orders from other transactions related to raising funds. The limit amount of such transactions is $1 billion (or UAH 24.253 billion at the NBU rate as of January 20, 2020).
The value of the company’s assets as of 2018 stood at UAH 21.479 billion.
The ratio of the marginal aggregate of transaction value to the value of the issuer’s assets according to the latest annual financial statements is 112.91%.
