Photo: archive, BGNES
Maintaining the Ukrainian armed forces and opposing Russia in the war it started costs Ukraine about 2 trillion hryvnias ($54 billion) a year, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said at a meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors, quoted by the Ukrinform agency.
“Actually, support for the armed forces and the war cost Ukraine about 2 trillion hryvnias. This is more than the revenue part of the budget in peacetime,” Shmigal said.
According to him, in peacetime, the revenue part of Ukraine’s budget amounted to 1.3 trillion hryvnias ($35 billion). Currently, the state survives thanks to the financial support of partners, as well as grants and loans.
“We lost about 30 percent of our economy and our businesses. We lost 3.5 million jobs. In the first year of the war, we lost 29.5 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP). Businesses adapted and continue to adapt. This year we expect even a slight increase compared to last year,” specified the Ukrainian Prime Minister.
He noted that it is also possible to increase Ukraine’s gold and foreign exchange reserves to an all-time high.
“At the moment, the National Bank has 39 billion dollars (in foreign exchange reserves). This year we reduced the inflation level to 12.8 percent on an annual basis. You understand what the inflation is in your countries, you can compare,” Schmigal said, addressing to the audience.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Prime Minister said that in the first half of 2023, more than 600 billion hryvnias ($16 billion) came into Ukraine’s state budget, with 672 billion hryvnias ($18.1 billion) allocated to the military.
(BTA, Simeon Tomov)
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2023-08-03 18:44:00
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