Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says that Ukraine expects the first EUR 300 million tranche of macro-financial assistance from the European Union next week, and the second one a week later.
“Next week we expect the first tranche of EUR 300 million of macro-financial assistance from the European Union, which has provided us with EUR 1.2 billion urgently. A week later, the second tranche will be allocated,” Shmyhal said in his address on Wednesday evening.
Ukraine expects to receive the first tranche of macro-financial assistance in the amount of EUR 600 million in late March-early April, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko has said.
“The first tranche of such assistance will amount to EUR 600 million and is unconditional. We hope to receive these funds at the end of March or beginning of April this year,” Marchenko said, speaking from the parliament rostrum during an hour of questions to the government on Friday.
“Ukraine will receive the second tranche after the parties approve short-term measures regarding the introduction of structural reforms, which the teams of the European Commission and the Ministry of Finance are currently working on,” the minister added.
He called the allocation of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine unprecedentedly fast.
“The Ministry of Finance is also negotiating with the government of Japan regarding the formation of a mechanism for involving the Japanese international cooperation agency JICA in a new ‘green’ program with the World Bank on a development policy loan, the so-called green DPL,” Serhiy Marchenko said.
He explained that the possibility of attracting from $500 million from the World Bank and up to $300 million from the Japanese government was being discussed.
Earlier, the European Parliament voted in favor of the proposal of the European Commission to provide Ukraine with new macro-financial assistance in the amount of EUR 1.2 billion.
After the imposition of sanctions against smugglers, the budget of Ukraine received UAH 71 billion, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov has said.
“The sanctions [for smugglers] are working. Today we can say with confidence that the amount of money that the budget additionally received after the imposition of sanctions is UAH 71 billion. We, no doubt, wanted it to be more, but we draw your attention to the fact that this is just the beginning. We are not going to dwell on this issue,” Danilov said at a briefing following the NSDC meeting on Thursday.
State PrivatBank (Kyiv) from December 24 began paying the next tranche in the amount of EUR9 million to victims of the Holocaust, in particular to former concentration camp prisoners and survivors of the German occupation, PrivatBank said on Tuesday.
According to the message, funds can be received in cash at any bank branch in cities and regions of Ukraine.
The press service recalled that PrivatBank has been making such payments since 2014 and is the only agent bank authorized by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to pay compensation to victims of Nazism on the territory of Ukraine within the framework of the Claims Conference company.
On December 18, 2016, the government of Ukraine, referring to the proposal of the NBU and former shareholders of PrivatBank, the largest of which at that time were Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennadiy Boholiubov, decided to nationalize this largest financial institution on the Ukrainian market and injected over UAH 155 billion into its capital.
According to the statistics of the National Bank of Ukraine, as of October 1, 2021, in terms of total assets, PrivatBank was ranked 1st (UAH 550.328 billion) among 71 banks operating in the country.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal believes that Ukraine has fulfilled the conditions necessary for the disbursement of the second tranche of macro-financial assistance from the European Union, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers said on Sunday.
“Indeed, an important step in supporting us will be the allocation of the second tranche of macro-financial assistance before the completion of the current program in September this year. Ukraine has met all the conditions for receiving it,” Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said during a meeting with Executive Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis.
According to the Prime Minister, Ukraine has increased the transparency and efficiency of medical procurement, continued pursuing the reform of tax and customs services, and resumed the competitive procedure for selection for civil service positions.
Shmyhal also noted that the government has taken important steps to improve the anti-corruption infrastructure. Also, the Bureau of Economic Security was created, the functioning of the natural gas market was improved, and the reform of the corporate governance system of state-owned enterprises continues.
For his part, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission noted that the European Union has mobilized unprecedented financial and technical assistance for Ukraine. And the provision of the first tranche of macro-financial assistance in the amount of EUR 600 million in 2020 had been a sign of solidarity between the EU and Ukraine.
“Ukraine has made significant efforts towards implementation of the EU macro-financial assistance conditions and based on the preliminary analysis we can consider conditions as broadly met,” Valdis Dombrovskis said.
In addition, the Prime Minister noted that Ukraine had ensured the implementation of structural “beacons” and within the framework of joint stand-by arrangement with the IMF, which are necessary for the first revision of the program.
Ukraine may receive a $700 million tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September, the adviser to the President of Ukraine on economic issues, Oleh Ustenko, has said.
“The President of the country had a more than successful telephone conversation with Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva. The IMF mission is going to Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine has implemented all the preconditions of the IMF. We expect that a new tranche of about $700 million will be received from the IMF rather quickly,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
“I suppose that now we are moving according to the following scenario: in September – the mission, at once the issue of Ukraine is brought up to a meeting of the IMF Board of Directors, and in September I expect that we will receive a new tranche,” the president’s adviser added.
At the same time, Ustenko does not rule out the possibility of extending the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA).
“We have made serious progress, and this was noted. So I do not rule out that the SBA may be extended,” he said.
