All UAH 66 billion in the COVID-19 Fund has already been fully distributed. Read where the money went in a series of analytical articles by StateWatch journalist Oleksandr Humeniuk.

Since the creation of the COVID-19 Fund, StateWatch experts have closely monitored how and where funds were allocated to combat the insidious virus. We have already highlighted the fact that most of the money from the fund did not go to medicine but to needs not related to the pandemic at all. We also covered the fact that all 66 billion were distributed among various departments back in August. And to everyone’s surprise, half of the fund went to Ukravtodor.

However, what happened to the funds allocated to various ministries and government institutions? What were they spent on and were they spent at all? To find out, we sent inquiries to the 7 different ministries and one state-owned enterprise that received the most money to fight Covid-19. And in this article, we will talk about the process of exploiting funds that should save the country from a pandemic.

Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture

The Ministry of Economy received UAH 7.9 billion from the fund. In justifying the need for these funds, the Ministry noted that the money is needed to provide financial assistance to the Fund of Compulsory State Social Insurance in the event of unemployment.

According to the information we received, the money received from the COVID-19 Fund went to three areas of activity of the Fund of Compulsory State Social Insurance:

• For partial unemployment benefits: out of 3 billion 723 million received by the social insurance fund, 2 billion 23 million 528 thousand hryvnias have already been transferred to the accounts of employment centers.
• In the case of unemployment on a repayable basis: allocated 1 billion 277 million hryvnias were received in full and intended for paying benefits to 467,662 unemployed persons.
• To ensure the timely payment of unemployment benefits: out of 2 billion 972 million, the fund received the full amount but currently only 1 billion 577 million 346 thousand were transferred to the accounts of employment centers for further transfer to the bank accounts of the unemployed.

Thus, of the 7.9 billion hryvnias allocated from the COVID-19 Fund to the Ministry of Economy, the Fund of Compulsory State Social Insurance has already received 6.2 billion hryvnias as of the end of the summer. 1.7 billion hryvnias remain unused today.

Ministry of Social Policy

Another ministry that has received a considerable amount from the COVID-19 Fund is the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. In total, it received about UAH 4 billion. Based on the answer to our request, the Ministry of Social Policy received funds from the COVID-19 Fund for four different purposes, in particular:

• UAH 233 million was received as financial assistance for insurance payments to medical workers of state and municipal health care institutions and members of their families. As of today, all 233 million have been used.
• UAH 1 billion 655 million was provided as assistance for children of individual entrepreneurs on the simplified taxation system. Of this money, only 808 million hryvnias have been used as of today.
• UAH 471 million was provided for financial assistance of the Social Insurance Fund for the payment of material support and non-refundable insurance payments. As of today, this amount has hardly been spent. Only 14 million hryvnias were used.
• UAH 1 billion 807 million was provided for financial assistance of the Social Insurance Fund for the payment of material support on a repayable basis. Of this amount, 1 billion 295 million hryvnias have been spent as of today.

So, of 4 billion 167 million which were provided for the Ministry of Social Policy, slightly more than half, namely 2 billion 350 million hryvnias, are used as of today.

Ministry of Justice

In total, the Cabinet of Ministers has allocated UAH 23.7 million to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine to ensure measures aimed at preventing the occurrence and spread of Covid-19 outbreaks in penitentiary institutions.

According to the information received, the Ministry of Justice had spent a total of 5 million 860 thousand hryvnias as of mid-August. The money went to purchase medical equipment and personal protective equipment for medical staff in penitentiaries.

In particular, the money went to purchase:

• disposable shoe covers – 15,000 pcs. for UAH 13.0 thousand
• hats made of non-woven material – 15,000 pcs. for UAH 18.2 thousand
• goggles – 1000 pcs. for UAH 80.0 thousand
• screens for face protection – 1000 pcs. for 64.0 thousand UAH
• FFP3 respirators with a valve – 6000 pcs. for UAH 390.0 thousand
• FFP3 respirators without valve – 5425 pcs. for UAH 271.3 thousand
• FFP2 respirators without valve – 6000 pcs. for UAH 240.0 thousand
• steam sterilizers 15 pcs. for UAH 2609.0 thousand
• oxygen concentrators 80 pcs. for UAH 2174.8 thousand.

Thus, of the 23 million hryvnias provided for the Ministry of Justice, only a quarter of all funds were used as of the end of the summer, namely 5 million 860 thousand hryvnias.

Ministry of Community and Territorial Development

The Ministry of Community and Territorial Development has been allocated UAH 1.6 billion for the implementation of projects on the reconstruction and overhaul of the emergency rooms in health care facilities in hospital districts. Also, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Procedure and conditions for providing a subvention from the state budget to local for the implementation of projects for the reconstruction and overhaul of emergency rooms in health care facilities in hospital districts and the distribution of regional budgets.

According to the information provided, UAH 840 million was allocated to regional budgets to meet the above objectives, as of August 19, 2020. Another half of the funds remain unused.

As this is only the first part of our material on how public authorities spend budget funds from the Covid-19 Response Fund, we have decided not to draw general conclusions yet. However, to sum it up, it should be said that the four ministries we mentioned in this article received a total of about 13.5 billion hryvnias. And of these funds, about 9.5 billion have been spent to date. Another 4 billion have not yet found their destination. And here a logical question arises: was it worth ravaging the COVID-19 Fund and distributing funds where they were not needed, thus endangering the medical industry, which today has nowhere to get additional funds in the event of a possible pandemic outbreak?

The article was prepared and published by Oleksandr Humeniuk as part of the StateWatch project with the support of the Public Health program initiative of the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF).