Ministry of Finance postpones funding for shelters, hospitals and energy protection by tens of billions

The Ministry of Finance, due to budget liquidity problems, has postponed part of the capital expenditures planned for autumn to December. In September alone, this concerns about 39 billion UAH, including for the construction of shelters and hospitals, energy protection and social housing. The head of the parliamentary budget committee, Roksolana Pidlasa, believes that in fact a significant part of these projects will not be financed in 2026.

Pidlasa said this in the podcast "Chronicles of the Economy".

According to her, there is currently no talk of a complete halt to all non-military and non-social payments. However, the Ministry of Finance has already amended the state budget schedule and postponed part of the expenditures planned for September, October and November to the last month of the year.

"First of all, these are capital expenditures. This is construction and reconstruction, including hospitals, construction of shelters in hospitals and schools, energy protection, construction of social housing, and so on", Pidlasa said.

According to her, about 39 billion UAH were postponed from September to December alone.

The head of the budget committee noted that for capital projects such postponement can actually mean loss of funding in the current year, since it will be difficult to complete the relevant works and make payments within December alone.

"When we talk about capital expenditures, we understand that postponing them to December means that they will not be financed at all this year. Because it will simply be impossible to do so", Pidlasa stated.

Among the postponed areas, she separately mentioned measures to prepare for winter and protect energy facilities. Thus, part of the funds is moved to a period when it will be too late to implement the relevant works before the winter season begins.

The Ministry of Finance previously confirmed expenditure restrictions

Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko has publicly spoken about the state budget liquidity problems before. On September 10, during a meeting of the parliamentary Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, he stated that the government had already been forced to apply measures to limit budget expenditures due to delays in international financing. At that meeting, Marchenko was the speaker on draft laws on which part of external assistance depends. 

According to the minister, under conditions of limited liquidity, financing the security and defense sector remains a priority, while other expenditures will be carried out as funds become available in the single treasury account.

Marchenko then expressed hope that the situation would not lead to salary delays in the public sector, calling such a scenario a "financial catastrophe," but acknowledged that it cannot be completely ruled out.

Pidlasa linked the current budget problems to several factors at once. According to her, in 2026 Ukraine is to receive $50.8 billion of international financing, but as of mid-September, actually around $21 billion has arrived, while about $29.5 billion is still expected. Some tranches are delayed due to Ukraine's untimely fulfillment of international program conditions.

At the same time, the budget's own revenues are falling behind the plan, and defense costs are growing. According to Pidlasa, in the first eight months of the year, expenditures on national security and defense were 17% higher than in the same period of 2025.

Pidlasa called the combination of delayed foreign aid, underperformance of individual revenues, and rising military needs an "ideal storm" for the state budget.

Based on materials: "Chronicles of the Economy", Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy