A first tranche of the macro-financial assistance of the European Union (EU) will arrive in Ukraine this year, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said. “Of course, we are speaking about this year,” the minister said in Kyiv on Wednesday, asked about the terms of the first disbursement of the EU’s macro-financial assistance. He recalled that in coming days a memorandum of understanding under the programme, foreseeing in particular the conditions for the provision of a loan, will be signed. Klimkin declined to specify the details.
As reported, Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the Euro, Social Dialogue, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union Valdis Dombrovskis on September 13-14 will visit Ukraine, where he will take part in signing a memorandum of understanding, in which the terms of the fourth EU macro-financial assistance programme for Ukraine (MFA IV) for EUR1 billion will be fixed.
According to materials published by the EU early July 2018, the proposed MFA would be made available for two and a half years, starting from the first day after the entry into force of the memorandum of understanding. In addition, the planned size of the two tranches is to be outlined in the document.
Since May 2014 Ukraine has received EUR 2.81 billion of macro-financial assistance from the EU. The third tranche of EUR 600 million under the MFA was annulled on January 18, 2018, as the country failed to meet the conditions.
Following its technical mission of November 2017, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised its estimates of Ukraine’s external financing needs, identifying an additional gap of $4.5 billion for 2018 and 2019.
