Oksana Bayul joined the call not to allow Russian athletes to the Olympics

Ukraine and international donors have a clear plan on how to ensure financial stability in Ukraine this year, to avoid printing money to finance the budget. The head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andrii Pyshnyi, told about this in an interview with Oksana Bedratenko, a journalist of the Ukrainian Service of the Voice of America.

Read the full text of the interview here.

The official says: the assistance of international partners is clearly defined, and the sources are clear. This, the official is convinced, will allow Ukraine to ensure financial stability, to pass this period without printing money for the budget, says Pyshnyi and notes: if last year Ukraine needed $32 billion to balance the budget, this year the need is $40 billion.

More than 20 billion of budget support for Ukraine comes from the USA. On Friday, the United States announced its intention to provide Ukraine with an additional $4.9 billion in budget support. Funds will be available in September. The United States has already provided Ukraine with $18 billion in budget support through the World Bank mechanism, the State Department said in a statement. In general, the World Bank reported, more than 20 billion dollars were transferred through the institution to support Ukraine this year.

“These funds, together with the support of the EU, the IMF and others, will allow the government to provide critically important services to citizens during the war against Russia’s brutal aggression,” the State Department said in a statement.

Unlike last year, Ukraine received assurances from donors regarding rhythmic funding, Pyshnyi says.

Last year, after the start of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, although donor support was significant, due to delays in receipts, the National Bank had to print funds to fill the budget. Such funding is “toxic,” Pyshnyi notes. “These are emergency things and they are very dangerous. They have their price. And we all agreed that this year we will do everything necessary, and there is a clear action plan, agreed at the level of the government, the National Bank, and the Ministry of Finance, in order to avoid emission financing. Well, of course, this is to ensure a rhythmic and sufficient flow of international financial aid,” the official says.

Current assurances from the G7 countries and international organizations were not easy to obtain, the official notes, but the IMF program has become an illustration of what . “These assurances are of different severity. For this year, we understand the source, and we are convinced. Next, the program is flexible: depending on how the situation will develop and what assistance Ukraine will need, it should receive such assistance. We received the corresponding assurances from the G7 partners as well.” Assistance will continue under both the baseline and adverse scenarios. “The package of financial support in the 4-year horizon will amount to about $140 billion,” the official adds.

“This program with the International Monetary Fund provides answers to these questions: how long and to what extent Ukraine may need support in order to balance our budgetary needs and strengthen our ability to withstand and win this war together with military support,” – adds the official.

Pishnyi points out that the NBU’s independence from issue financing is an advantage. “A functioning stable banking system, an independent National Bank is our advantage in this war,” he says.

“The independence of the National Bank is both a goal and a resource, thanks to which it is possible to create a circle of trust, conduct very constructive, difficult negotiations and achieve a result in these negotiations. This is what underlies the same arrangements with the International Monetary Fund.

He adds: “Within the framework of the memorandum, we agreed on steps that will allow Ukraine to abandon emission financing. The government agreed with this. The president, the finance minister and, of course, the National Bank agreed to this. We will take measures to continue to ensure financial stability and not undermine independence in any way. On the contrary, the Memorandum provides that Ukraine will receive the necessary support for financial stability, external stability, tax, budgetary, and price stability. In order to strengthen its capacity on the way to victory. And, by the way, the word “victory” is in the memorandum with the International Monetary Fund.”

But Russia will be forced to issue bonds in six months to cover military needs, the NBU predicts.

Pyshnyi says: due to Western sanctions, which have blocked the assets of the Russian National Welfare Fund, the Russian Central Bank will be forced to resort to printing funds.

“You have to listen carefully and look at the face of the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Nabiulina, how nervous she is, realizing that the sanctions of the United States and Europe, which blocked the assets of the National Welfare Fund of Russia, which was, in fact, a purse, at the expense of which this war was financed , that these blocking sanctions, in addition to what has already been put in place – and the European Union’s tenth package of sanctions is powerful, and the next wave of sanctions pressure that the United States has introduced is also very powerful – are working, and she understands that already in in the next six months, it should resort to covering the budget deficit of the Russian Federation at the expense of printing money. This starts a spiral. This spiral will lead Russia to economic and financial collapse, and Putin’s political regime to bankruptcy,” the official says.

Russia reduced the publication of budget data last year. Last week, Rosstat released data showing Russia’s federal budget deficit totaled 2.4 trillion rubles, or more than $29 billion, a drop from last year, when Russia reported a budget surplus of 1.13 trillion rubles in the first quarter.