In 2026, Ukraine will need $52 billion in external financing, and access to most of these funds depends directly on cooperation with the IMF – it is this cooperation that unlocks funding from the EU and other partners. If commitments are met, the need is fully covered. If not, the financial chain breaks: the deficit exceeds $30 billion, and funds will only last until May, or, in the best-case scenario, if MPs finally start voting on the Ukraine Facility laws, until mid-summer.
The Verkhovna Rada has not passed any of the four laws required to receive $3.35 billion from the World Bank.
New IMF Programme began with Ukraine’s failure to meet structural benchmarks. Important commitments that the government and the IMF set out in the Memorandum have also not been fulfilled. These include a wide range of measures, primarily in financial and fiscal policy.
Unfulfilled indicators of the Ukraine Plan continue to accumulate, creating risks of losing significant amounts of EU financial support and slowing down the implementation of key reforms. By the end of 2025, Ukraine had failed to meet 14 indicators totalling over €3.9 billion, with the largest share falling in Q4 2025 – 10 indicators worth €2.5 billion. At the same time, in Q1 2026, Ukraine fulfilled only 1 indicator, despite failing to meet a further 7, the total value of which continues to increase the amount of potentially lost financing.
Laws for receiving assistance from the World Bank
IMF
New IMF programme – started with non-compliance
Ukraine has received the first tranche under new IMF programme – US$1.5 billion
By the end of March, Ukraine was due to have met three structural benchmarks – two structural benchmarks were not completed on time, and one is at risk of non-compliance:
- Benchmark No. 2, “Strengthening the process for appointing members of supervisory boards of state-owned banks”, was not completed (although the deadline was the end of February)
- By the end of March, Benchmark No. 3 “Adoption of tax changes” had also not been met – this refers to the draft law on the abolition of the VAT exemption for the simplified tax regime, taxation of digital platforms, taxation of all parcels, and the permanent application of the military levy/
- The Cabinet of Ministers decided to submit four draft laws on the changes, rather than a single comprehensive bill. All of them, except for the VAT one, were approved on 30 March and will be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada.
- At risk: “Appointment of the Head of the State Customs Service” (of course, they could appoint someone in the evening of 31 March, but…)
EU
Ukraine Plan: main updates as of March 2026
- On March 5, as part of the investment component of the UF Ukraine Investment Framework, a new investment package worth €1.5 billion was approved
- Ukraine is critically lagging behind in fulfilling the Ukraine Facility indicators. In 2025, 14 indicators worth over €3.9 billion were not completed, including 10 indicators in Q4 alone worth €2.5 billion
- Out of the 8 indicators to be completed by the end of Q1 2026, only 1 has been met, while 7 indicators worth €2.6 billion remain unmet
- As early as July, Ukraine could irreversibly lose €300 million due to the failure to meet the Q1 2025 indicator on increasing the staffing of the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine (HACC)
SPECIAL TOPIC — «Ukraine is not meeting its partners’ requirements. What will happen to the funding?»
You can view the previous monitors on the website RRR4U
The monitoring was prepared with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
RRR4U (Resilience, Reconstruction and Relief for Ukraine) is a consortium of four Ukrainian civil society organisations: Centre for Economic Strategy, Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, Institute of Analytics and Advocacy and DiXi Group.