KYIV, Aug 7 – In its August report, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) worsened the forecast for the deficit of the country's consolidated budget for 2024, taking into account grants, to UAH 1.281 billion, or 16.8% of GDP compared to UAH 811 billion, or 10.5% of GDP in the April report.

Deficits are expected to be higher than in the previous forecast, primarily due to the longer duration of security risks, and, consequently, the need for significant spending on security and defense. Given this, the volume of expected international assistance has been increased to finance other expenses, the NBU indicates.