Western aid to Ukraine exceeded the Marshall Plan for post-war Europe

Financial support to Ukraine after the Russian invasion exceeded the scale of aid provided by the United States to post-war Europe. In terms of the share of GDP of the recipients, the support for Ukraine is "much larger in real terms than the Marshall Plan after World War II," Audile Renaud-Basso, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, told Politico.

Source: moscowtimes.eu

From the beginning of the war in Ukraine to the end of 2023, the EU and the US allocated €27.5 billion and €22.9 billion respectively, Renaud-Basso said: external support was "gigantic", financing 50% of the Ukrainian budget. In total, this is 27% of Ukraine's €186 billion GDP.

This year, the EU is expected to transfer another €18bn – almost 10% of GDP, Renaud-Basso said.

The US bill on aid to Ukraine, which was passed in the Senate on Tuesday, provides for $7.85bn in budgetary aid to Kyiv (though the document is yet to be approved by the House of Representatives).

The scale of Western support for Ukraine is comparable in terms of money to the Marshall Plan (named after Secretary of State George Marshall, who proposed it).

In 1948, the United States allocated $13.3 billion to 18 Western European countries for four years. In today's money, this is almost $169 billion.

According to estimates by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, as of 31 October 2023, the European Union, its institutions, and the United States have provided a total of €204.6 billion ($219 billion) to Ukraine.

Financial assistance (minus funds for military and humanitarian needs) totalled almost €122 billion, with the participation of the UK, Norway and Switzerland, which are not members of the EU, and €128 billion ($130.5 billion and $137 billion, respectively), including Japan and South Korea, which are friendly to the West.

However, not all of the promised funds have been transferred. For example, EU institutions, including the European Investment Bank, will finance Ukraine for several years, so out of the €77.1 billion promised, €23.6 billion has been disbursed so far. However, the assistance to Ukraine is provided for only two years, compared to four years under the Marshall Plan.

In February, the EU agreed to provide Kyiv with another €50bn ($53.5bn) over the next four years. Taking this into account, the assistance to Ukraine will exceed the payments under the Marshall Plan in monetary terms.