KYIV ¨C The approval of a €90-billion European ?Union loan has thrown Ukraine a lifeline, averting deep cuts to public services, but Kyiv may need more money to meet its military needs this year, economists and officials have said.
Ukraine¡¯s budget foresees a massive deficit of around 1.9 trillion hryvnias ($43 billion) in 2026 ¡ª around one-fifth of economic output ¡ª but economists say it significantly underestimates the cost of the war with Russia.
Maksym Samoiliuk, economist at the Centre for Economic Strategy, a Kyiv-based think tank, said military spending would be more realistically assessed now the delayed loan had been approved to take ?into account factors such as a pay rise for military personnel, expected this summer.
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