EU to provide next Ukraine Facility tranche to Ukraine next week

MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - The European Union would grant first funds to Ukraine as part of its new four-year-long Ukraine Facility program next week, Ukrainian media outlets said with a reference to European Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn's pages on social networks.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergei Marchenko, in turn, thanked the European commissioner and the EU for support to Ukraine.

As reported, last week, Ukraine signed documents with the EU on transition financing totaling six billion euros, which would enable Ukraine to receive 4.5 billion euros in March and, provided two conditions are met, another 1.5 billion euros in April.

National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Chairman Andrei Pyshny clarified that it is a loan on concessional terms envisaging the maximum repayment period of 35 years and the start of the repayment of the principal debt in ten years from the date the amount of tranche was transferred into an account at the NBU.

The Ukrainian Finance Ministry pointed out that after the approval of the Ukraine Plan for Ukraine Facility, another 1.9 billion euros in unconditional funding are expected to be allocated to the state budget, while Ukraine would be receiving the remaining budget support totaling 30.27 billion euros, including 5.27 billion euros in grants, every quarter after meeting the indicators envisages in the Ukraine Plan.

Ukraine Facility is 50 billion euro in total, which includes 6.97 billion euros for the investment fund and 4.76 billion euros in technical and administrative support in addition to 38.27 billion euro in budget support.