Zelenskyy signs law on budget payments under minerals deal with US

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a law amending Ukraine’s Budget Code to implement payments from the state budget under the agreement with the United States on the use of Ukraine’s natural resources.

The amendments are necessary to establish funding for the American-Ukrainian Investment Recovery Fund, Caliber.Az reports via Ukrainian media.

Under the agreement, Ukraine will contribute half of the revenues generated from new licenses and permits related to mineral resource extraction, including oil, gas, gas condensate, and other resources listed in the agreement’s Appendix A.

Specifically, Ukraine’s payments will come from rents on extraction activities, issuance of new special permits for subsoil use, and sales of the state’s share of production under new production sharing agreements. These funds will be collected in a special state budget fund and subsequently transferred to the Recovery Fund.

Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the Rada’s Budget Committee, estimated Ukraine’s contribution at approximately 3 billion hryvnias (around $72,043) over five years. She noted that if the agreement had been signed in 2019, this amount would have already been transferred to the fund by now.

By Sabina Mammadli