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Ukraine has reduced the amount of external financial aid it expects to need in 2024 to $37.3 billion from $41 billion, its finance minister said, citing measures to maximise state budget revenue and moves to tap the domestic borrowing market.
Wartime Ukraine, which is forecasting a $43 billion budget deficit next year, relies heavily on financial assistance from its Western allies - although uncertainty is swirling over whether and how much they will send in the coming year.
"The need for external financing for 2024 was reduced from $41 billion thanks to measures to maximize state budget revenues, the activation of the domestic borrowing market and other measures," Serhiy Marchenko was quoted as saying by the Finance Ministry.
"All capital expenditures of the state budget were also reduced," he said in comments at a meeting on Tuesday of representatives of the Group of Seven, International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Bank.
Since Russia invaded in February 2022, Ukraine has ploughed all its revenues into defence and the military, while external financing has covered payments to the social sector. (Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Hugh Lawson)