Marchenko names scale of budget payment delays: 46 billion hryvnias accumulated in Treasury
As of October 12, the State Treasury Service of Ukraine has accumulated unpaid budget payments totaling 46 billion hryvnias. Due to a liquidity crisis, the government has already postponed some expenditures to the end of the year and delayed VAT refunds to enterprises.
Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko reported the scale of the problem during his speech in the Verkhovna Rada on October 12.
"Unfortunately, in October we entered a liquidity crisis", - stated the head of the Ministry of Finance, explaining the situation with the financing of the state budget.
According to him, the state currently focuses resources on priority payments, including defense expenditures, pensions, wages, and social assistance. Financing of most capital expenditures has been temporarily suspended.
Marchenko specified that the government has postponed payments totaling about 39 billion hryvnias to the end of 2026. This is not about the final cancellation of state programs or refusal to carry out planned works, but about deferring their payment due to lack of funds.
Meanwhile, the Treasury has accumulated 46 billion hryvnias of unprocessed payments. Among them are financing for road repair and maintenance, development of administrative centers, purchase of school buses, repair of housing stock, preparation for the heating season, and procurement of equipment for backup power supply.
Separately, the minister confirmed that the state has suspended VAT refunds to enterprises in the amount of 18 billion hryvnias. This creates additional strain on the working capital of businesses, especially exporting companies that rely on the return of paid tax.
The amounts announced by the minister characterize different aspects of budget constraints. In particular, 39 billion hryvnias is the volume of payments postponed to the end of the year, 46 billion hryvnias is the total amount of unprocessed treasury payments, and 18 billion hryvnias is the suspended VAT refund. Marchenko did not specify whether these figures overlap, so summing them as a single debt amount would be incorrect.
Part of financing for winter preparation has already been restored
Despite the general restriction on capital expenditures, the government recently unblocked funding for the so-called resilience plans, which include preparing critical infrastructure for the heating season.
According to Marchenko, it currently involves relatively small amounts of funds. At the same time, the minister expressed hope that responsible state bodies and local authorities will be able to use them for timely preparation for winter.
During answers to deputies' questions, the head of the Ministry of Finance also denied statements about delays in monetary allowances for military personnel and social payments.
"Monetary allowances for military personnel are financed on time and in full. All social programs are financed on time and in full. We have no delays in any program and do not anticipate any by the end of the year", - assured Marchenko.
He also emphasized that among the first payments that the Treasury stopped processing in September was exactly the financing of road works. According to the minister, capital expenditures are currently not financed, with the exception of certain measures related to ensuring the resilience of critical infrastructure.
Restoration of payments depends on receipt of international assistance
Marchenko named delays in international financing and deterioration of the economic situation due to Russian attacks as the main causes of budget difficulties.
According to his data, for January-September 2026, the general fund of the state budget received almost 50 billion hryvnias less than planned revenues, with 32 billion hryvnias of this amount falling in August and September. By the end of the year, the shortfall in tax payments may reach 70 billion hryvnias.
In addition, Ukraine did not receive part of international budget assistance on time. In particular, the minister reported a delay in macro-financial financing of 4.25 billion dollars, which was supposed to arrive in August-September.
Marchenko called on the Verkhovna Rada to speed up the adoption of bills necessary for fulfilling Ukraine's international obligations and unblocking further financial support.
The minister assured that after restoring the liquidity of the treasury account, the government will be able to return to financing postponed expenditures. However, he did not name specific deadlines for repaying accumulated payments.
We remind you that the Ministry of Finance reported about the restriction of capital expenditure financing and problems with budget liquidity back in September. Then it became known that part of non-priority payments, including for infrastructure projects and protection of energy facilities, were postponed to the end of the year. Marchenko's current speech for the first time allowed assessing the scale of accumulated delays with specific amounts.
Based on materials: speech by Serhiy Marchenko in the Verkhovna Rada