Originally published September 28, 2023 2:00 pm PDT
Ukraine, facing ongoing internal and external conflict, is experiencing a substantial reliance on international aid, with external assistance forming about 70% of its budget.
The figure was pointed out by Niall Ferguson, the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, in an opinion piece for Bloomberg published on Saturday.
Ferguson commented on what he sees as Ukraine’s “resilience” amid the country’s war with Russia, even though “around 70% of the Ukrainian budget is covered by international assistance.”
The number is confirmed by Roksolana Pidlasa, the leader of the Ukrainian parliament budget committee.
Pidlasa reported in February that from the start of the year to February 15, 68.8% of the financial resources mitigating Ukraine’s budget deficit have been from external sources.
Pidlasa added, “At the same time, the government is continuing to issue military bonds – securities which account for nearly 31% of all budget financing sources.”
The international financial input arrives amid diminishing patience from Western nations due to the protracted conflict in Ukraine.
Whether to continue funding Ukraine is at the center of the looming U.S. federal shutdown, as a significant portion of Republicans oppose any more aid to Ukraine.
Many GOP members are willing to undergo a government shutdown in order to halt more U.S. funding for Ukraine.
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) warned that voting to advance legislation to send more money to Ukraine signified “a vote for BILLIONS in new blood money for the proxy war in Ukraine.”
“How many Republicans will vote to give Biden a blank check to fund his proxy war with Russia in Ukraine?” Greene wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
