The National Bank of Italy and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) have launched a program for exchanging hryvnia for euros for Ukrainian refugees since June 21, the NBU press service reported on Friday.
According to the report, Ukrainians who have been granted a temporary residence permit in Italy or international protection will be able to exchange hryvnias in the amount of up to UAH 10,000 per person.
The exchange will be available at branches of the Italian Central Bank and branches of commercial partner banks (more than 400 branches throughout the country).
As reported, the hryvnia cash exchange program has already been launched in Poland, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Whole Europe must unite its efforts and act boldly in order to solve the problem of safe transportation and shipment or Ukrainian grain, Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi has said.
“We must do everything possible to not let the situation become dramatic… To avoid… a serious crisis, we must ensure safe transportation of grain. This must not cause a global disaster. For this we must focus on how to organize grain transportation through the Black Sea. Russia, unfortunately, does not make advances. We must fight against this problem bravely and boldly, just like President Zelensky. And we, the Europeans, must act together,” Draghi said during a press conference following a meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, Italy, and Romania in Kyiv on Thursday.
He added that there is some time to solve this problem as “the harvest will be ready mainly in September.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi have arrived in Ukraine.
A photo of the leaders of France, Germany and Italy on the train was posted on the Telegram channel of Ukrazilaznytsia on Thursday morning.
Italy, if necessary, is ready to take part in mine clearance operations at Ukrainian ports in order to ensure the exit of ships with grain from them, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Wednesday.
“We are putting pressure on the creation of sea corridors for the transportation of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports, especially grain. To do this, it is necessary to clear the sea areas near the ports, especially near Odessa,” Sole 24 Ore quoted him as saying.
“Italy has expressed its willingness to participate in demining operations. We want the UN to play a central role in conducting and coordinating operations, along with other partners such as Turkey,” Di Maio added.
He noted that the export of grain would be possible “with Russian guarantees for the safety of ships and their cargo.”
The Ministry of Education and Science says that Ukrainian students in Poland, Germany and Italy have the necessary conditions for learning.
“On April 26, 2022, the monitoring visit of the members of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Protection of the Rights of the Child under martial law to the EU countries ended … Monitoring the movement of Ukrainian children allows timely decisions to be made to protect the rights of children, organize the educational process and provide applicants with the necessary technical means,” the statement says. press release from the Ministry of Education.
It is noted that the results of the monitoring visit to Poland, Germany and Italy testify to the creation of all conditions for children temporarily displaced abroad. In particular, children are provided with the necessary means of education and continue to receive an education of the appropriate level.
“Students are involved in the educational process both in educational institutions and in institutions of Ukraine (remotely),” the message says.
Minister of Economy and Finance Daniele Franco confirmed an intention of the Italian government to provide Ukraine with a loan of EUR 200 million, Finance Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko said in an interview with Italian Corriere della sera following the recent talks in Washington at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
“We are negotiating to receive funds on concessional terms: at 1% per annum, with a maturity of 15 years. In my opinion, other countries can also offer us loans on such concessional terms. Such financing would certainly help us,” Marchenko said.
He also thanked Italy, which was the first of all countries to provide Ukraine with EUR 110 million on grant terms at the very beginning of the war unleashed by Russia.
The Ukrainian Finance Minister said that the preparation of an agreement on the next EUR 150 million loan from Germany, which will help support Ukraine’s macro-financial stability, has also recently begun.
According to him, only last week Germany provided a EUR 150 million loan to support small and medium-sized businesses, an agreement on which was reached back in March 2020.
“Minister Christian Lindner also noted that they are considering providing us with military support in the amount of EUR 1 billion, but we expected from Germany no less financial support than that provided to us by the UK, Canada or the United States,” Marchenko said.
According to him, Kyiv has high hopes for funding from the IMF managed account. “We encourage partner countries to consider reallocating 10% of their Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) that they received from the IMF in August 2021 and have not yet used. We are mainly targeting EU countries. However, specific rules should be agreed with the European Union and European Central Bank (ECB),” the Minister of Finance explained.
According to him, the EU countries will consider this issue, as there may be some restrictions on the use of SDRs by the ECB.
“But I think that countries will try to find a legal solution with the ECB to make SDRs available to Ukraine. The IMF is also working with other countries to find out how the allocated SDR quotas can be used to support Ukraine,” the minister said.
As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in his speech at the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, indicated that the country needs support of up to $7 billion monthly, and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that up to $5 billion is needed monthly to cover the budget deficit.
