Serhii Marchenko during Global Markets Conference 2022

On November 17, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Serhii Marchenko and Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management Yuriy Butsa took part in the annual BNP Paribas Global Markets Conference 2022 in London, UK. Among the participants of the event are leading investors, economists and heads of international companies.

The conference is focused on discussing global politics and economy, investments, sustainable development finance and digital transformation.

During the discussion, Serhii Marchenko spoke about the economic situation in the country before the full-scale war, the catastrophic impact of the russian invasion on the financial system of both Ukraine and the whole world, as well as Ukraine’s need for financial support for the speedy liberation of the territories and victory over the aggressor.

The Minister of Finance expressed gratitude to the international community for its active assistance from the first days of russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“During the 9 months of war we have received significant support from international financial organizations and most civilized countries. This includes direct budgetary support, lobbying of Ukrainian interests in the international arena, funding for rapid recovery, readiness to join the post-war reconstruction and sanctions pressure on russia. However, even these unprecedented measures were not enough to stop the aggressive war against our country,” Serhii Marchenko noted.

The Minister of Finance of Ukraine noted that the need for financial support remains so as to cover the budget deficit in 2023 in the amount of USD 38 billion.

“The price of russia’s war for Ukraine and the whole world is huge. Slowdown of global development, recession, financial instability, energy crisis, record inflation, food security risks. And the only practical solution to all these problems is to accelerate financial and military support to Ukraine. We are talking about tens of billions of dollars, which is many times less than the losses of the global economy from the long russia’s war. For Ukraine, these funds are needed primarily to ensure priority expenditures, such as salaries and social protection. Allocation of these funds is easy to verify as they are linked to specific individuals,” Serhii Marchenko said.

The Minister of Finance noted that the world should understand that providing billions of dollars of support to Ukraine is not charity but a matter of self-preservation for each country.

Serhii Marchenko called on the international community to join efforts to support Ukraine in order to stop russia, whose actions are directed not only against Ukraine but against the entire civilized world.

The Minister also noted that financial measures taken against russia are not sufficient. Despite the already imposed sanctions and suspension of hundreds of international businesses in russia, the russian economy has not suffered as much as the aggressor country deserves. That is why the Minister of Finance stressed the need to impose additional sanctions and to stop cooperation of the world financial institutions with the terrorist state, isolating russia from participation in global economic affairs.