The Ukrainian budget deficit in March decreased to UAH 59.2B from UAH 88.8B in February.

According to the Ministry of Finance the state budget operated during the first three months of the year with a deficit of UAH 220.3B ($6.1B). At the same time, the actual state borrowing for the budget jumped to UAH 176.7B in March from UAH 66.7B in February, and the three-month total amounted to UAH 403.5B, or 83.7%, of the plan.

Through government bond placement, the budget received UAH 137.7B ($3.77B) during the year’s first three months. In addition to January’s €3B in EU macro-financial assistance, February’s $498M loan from the World Bank, €150M from USAID, €1.5B from the EU, and CAD 2.4B from Canada.

At the same time, spending on national debt repayment for March increased to UAH 49B from UAH 34.9B in February, and debt service amounted to UAH 11.6B against UAH 12B in February.