Deputy Minister of Economy of the country Alexey Sobolev said that the new program of support from the European Union, among other things, involves the issuance of loans to Kiev on preferential terms
MOSCOW, February 2. /tass/. Ukraine plans to receive €18 billion this year as part of a new four-year €50 billion support program, which was approved on Thursday at the EU summit in Brussels. This was announced by Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Alexey Sobolev.
"We can count on 18 billion [euros] that will go to the budget directly under this program. In general, 39 billion of these 50 [billion] should go to the budget in four years, that is, [almost] half this year," he said on the Rada TV channel.
Sobolev noted that the new EU support program, among other things, involves the issuance of loans to Kiev on preferential terms. "These are very preferential loans. We will find out the final terms at the end of the month, but what is being discussed now and what is in the adopted draft terms, then, for example, there is no need to give [loans] for 10 years, very preferential rates for the future period, and compensation for rates is contained in the very body of the program," the Deputy Minister of Economy explained. He added that part of the grant funds that will be provided to Ukraine under this program will be used to create conditions for reducing loan rates for Kiev.
According to Sobolev, in order to receive these €50 billion, Ukraine will provide the European Union with a four-year economic reform plan, the implementation of which will be checked every quarter, including by the European Commission. At the same time, a specially created audit council will monitor exactly how the Ukrainian authorities manage the money received. The majority of the council's members will be representatives of European countries, but it will also include Ukrainians, the deputy minister assured.
On the allocation of assistance to Ukraine
On February 1, at a summit in Brussels, the leaders of the 27 EU countries decided to allocate €50 billion from the community budget for financial support of Ukraine over four years. At the same time, they agreed with the Hungarian proposal and established a mechanism for controlling the spending of money. In a year, the EU will return to discussing this issue, and in two years it will review the amount of financial assistance to Ukraine in the light of the preparation of its new budget. At the same time, none of the countries, including Hungary, will have the right of veto in further discussions on this topic.
Of the new aid package, Ukraine should receive €17 billion free of charge, and €33 billion on credit. As noted in the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, 39 billion EU aid will be sent to the Ukrainian state budget to "strengthen macro-financial stability", €8 billion to cover investors' risks through a special investment instrument, another €3 billion will be spent on a technical support program. The ministry also noted that Kiev expects to receive the first tranche of EU aid in the amount of €4.5 billion in March. As noted by the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the condition for receiving these funds are five lighthouses, which have actually already been completed. At the same time, the conditions for receiving the second tranche will be tougher than for transferring the first one, he believes.
Kiev has repeatedly noted that without the financial support of Western allies, the country is facing an economic crisis. Ukraine has a budget deficit of $43.9 billion planned for 2024. The country's authorities expect to cover most of it with the help of Western allies.
