Ukraine has received an additional 65 billion Japanese yen (approximately $500 million) in a soft loan under a loan agreement signed by Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko and Japan International Cooperation Agency JICA President Akihiko Tanako.
The loan was granted on preferential terms: the loan repayment period is 30 years, including a grace period of 10 years; the interest rate is 1% per annum, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday.
The funds were sent to the state budget to finance priority social and humanitarian expenditures, health care, the ministry specified.
The Ministry of Finance recalled that on June 7, the governments of Ukraine and Japan signed an additional agreement on a JICA loan for a development policy in the field of emergency economic recovery. The agreement increased the loan amount by 65 billion Japanese yen, bringing the loan amount to 78 billion Japanese yen (about US$600 million).
Ukraine received the first 13 billion Japanese yen (about $100 million) under the said agreement on May 24.
The Ministry of Finance expected that in June the volume of external financing will increase to $4.8 billion compared to $1.5 billion in May, but before this Japanese loan since the beginning of the month it has so far amounted to only about $1.5 billion.
Japan has taken first place in the world ranking of tourist destinations of the World Economic Forum in 2021, despite the closed borders due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Demand in the tourism sector has been one of the hardest hit by the COVID 19 pandemic, leaving not only businesses but also the tourism-focused national economy hard hit by travel restrictions and international travel suspensions. Fortunately, there are now positive trends – The recovery of the tourism industry has begun, although not at the same pace around the world or in the same market segments. New factors, such as the war in Ukraine, are also complicating this uneven recovery.
According to the organization’s report, the list includes 117 tourist destinations. Japan topped the rankings for the first time, overtaking the US. Spain and France came in third and fourth respectively. The top 10 includes Germany, Switzerland, Australia, the UK, Singapore and Italy.
According to analysts, Japan ranked fourth in the biennial report on air transport infrastructure and cultural resources, sixth in land and port infrastructure, and 12th in natural resources. In terms of resilience to environmental change, the country took only 107th place.
The Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) is based on 18 criteria, including travel and tourism development, business environment, safety, health and hygiene, human resource utilization and labor market, international openness, pricing policy and competitiveness, air transport infrastructure , socio-economic sustainability and others.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide Ukraine with a $100 million loan for 30 years at 1% per annum with a grace period of 10 years, the Ministry of Finance said on its website.
According to the press release, the agreement was signed on Monday by Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and JICA President Dr. Akihiko Tanaka.
“The concessional loan of 13 billion yen, which is the first part of the agreed financial assistance between Ukraine and Japan, will be directed to the state budget to finance priority expenses. First of all, to support the most unprotected population of Ukraine,” the press service of the ministry said, citing Marchenko.
The signed agreement refers to the budgetary support for the stabilization of the situation in Ukraine, in particular, the provision of priority social, and humanitarian expenditures, health care, support for internally displaced persons, and other priority expenditures, the Finance Ministry added.
Japan will increase financial assistance to Ukraine from $100 million to $300 million, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said after a meeting with Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Friday.
“We already had the decision of the Japanese government to provide financial assistance to Ukraine – $100 million. During a personal meeting, the Japanese finance minister supported our request to increase funding to $300 million,” Marchenko wrote on Facebook after the meeting.
He also met with Italian Finance Minister Daniele Franco and discussed with him a new loan program, the details of which Marchenko has not yet disclosed.
Japan has promised to increase the volume of loans provided to Ukraine from $100 million to $300 million, Western media reported, citing a statement by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Kisida noted that “support for the Ukrainian economy is an urgent task.”
Earlier Tuesday, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi promised that Tokyo would provide Ukraine with masks and clothing capable of protecting against chemical weapons, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles. The cargo will be shipped on commercial flights as soon as it’s ready, he added.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the attraction of concessional funds from the Japanese government in the amount of 13 billion yen (about $103.75 million at the current exchange rate), Prime Minister Denys Shmygal announced.
“Today, at a government meeting, we finalized agreements with the government of Japan to raise aid in the amount of 13 billion yen,” Shmygal said in his address on Friday evening.
According to him, these preferential funds will be used to finance the priority needs of the country and the Ukrainian people.
