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.
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.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy and Turkey demonstrate their readiness to become guarantors of Ukraine’s security, but there is still no final answer from anyone
“Today, those who demonstrate that they are ready – we don’t have any signatories yet, but there is a demonstration – from Johnson, from Britain, from the USA, from Italy, from Turkey. I think it will be separate from the European Union,” reports he said, said on Saturday in an interview with the Ukrainian online media outlet Ukrayinska Pravda.
“I spoke separately with Ursula (President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen), separately with Charles Michel (Head of the European Council Charles Michel – UP), France, Germany.
We will do the first circle of conversation in this format for five (Britain, USA, Germany, France, Poland). Then other countries will join,” Zelensky said.
According to the publication, Zelensky believes that Ukraine will not have a problem with weapons or sanctions against the aggressor country, but there will be issues with the military component.
The European Union coordinated the first MEDEVAC operation for transferring Ukrainian children with chronic diseases from Poland to Italy, the European Commission said in a statement.
“The operation was financially and operationally supported by the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and is part of the European solidarity mechanism for intra-EU medical transfers of refugees and displaced people,” it said.
The operation was carried out by an Italian medical team at the request of and in close cooperation with Poland.
Italy plans to allocate EUR 110 million in financial assistance to support the population and economy of Ukraine in areas that will be agreed with the Ukrainian authorities, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio said during a briefing in the Senate of the Italian Parliament.
“We also intend to help the International Committee of the Red Cross in the humanitarian sphere,” he added, commenting on the results of his visit to Kyiv last week.
Since December 16, Italy has banned optional trips to its territory for Ukrainian citizens in connection with coronavirus (COVID-19) infection pandemic, including for tourism purposes, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (MFA) said.
“According to the updated rules for crossing the border with the Italian Republic, in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, Ukraine has been included in the list of countries in list E from December 16, 2021, which provides for a ban on optional travel of Ukrainian citizens, including for tourism purposes,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said on website: tripadvisor.mfa.gov.ua.
An exception is made by citizens of Ukraine, holders of a residence permit in Italy, or those citizens who enter Italy for confirmed reasons of work, study, medical treatment or absolute necessity. In some cases, according to the decision of the Italian competent authorities and if there are well-reasoned reasons, the entry into the country of persons who have confirmed and stable personal relations with Italian citizens may be allowed.
Upon entry, citizens of Ukraine from these categories must complete the Passenger Locator Form, an on-line sanitary control form, available at https://app.euplf.eu/ before arrival; present a certificate (certificate) of a negative result of molecular testing (made no more than 72 hours before arrival) or express testing for COVID-19 (made no more than 24 hours before arrival); activate health surveillance procedures in medical institutions in accordance with the territory of residence and go through ten days of self-isolation, at the end of which, retesting to confirm a negative result (molecular or rapid test).
