Ukraine receives $1.15 billion grant from US under World Bank program

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine received a $1.15 billion grant from the United States on Wednesday as part of the PEACE in Ukraine program, the Ukrainian finance ministry said.

The PEACE (Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance) in Ukraine project has been the World Bank’s flagship financing instrument for Kyiv during Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“In 2023, Ukraine has already received $10.9 billion in direct budget support from the United States in the form of grants,” the finance ministry said.

The project aims to compensate state budget expenditures in the social and humanitarian spheres, and is not intended for security or defence, the ministry said.

The U.S. government has this year allocated $10.9 billion to finance Ukraine’s state budget, it said.

“Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine’s state budget has already received $22.9 billion from the United States,” it quoted Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko as saying.

Ukraine relies heavily on foreign financing to cover its budget gap and finance social spending. Kyiv is also trying to raise funds to rebuild critical infrastructure, schools, and hospitals damaged during in nearly 20 months of the war.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

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