EU to allocate 1.9 bln euros to Ukraine next week under Ukraine Facility - EC vice president

BRUSSELS. June 21 (Interfax) - Ukraine will receive 1.9 billion euros next week under the Ukraine Facility, Executive Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis told journalists in Luxembourg on Friday after the EU Economic Council meeting.

"Regarding the Ukraine Facility: Ukraine will receive 1.9 billion euros in pre-financing next week, and the next two regular payments could take place in the autumn," he said.

Dombrovskis took part in the Ukraine Recovery Conference last week in Berlin, during which a guarantee agreement for 1.4 billion euros was signed with international financial institutions and development banks of EU countries.

"Straight after this press conference, we, together with the European Investment Fund, will launch a pilot mechanism allowing export credit agencies to support small and medium-sized businesses in trade with Ukraine," he said.

The European Union in the middle of May finally approved the plan developed by the government of Ukraine for the restoration, reconstruction and modernization of the country, a prerequisite for the implementation of the Ukraine Facility mechanism in the amount of 50 billion euros.

"The approval of the plan allows us to fully launch the Ukraine Facility. Our state will receive 1.89 billion euros in preliminary funding. In general, this year we expect to attract 16 billion euros as part of the program. This will strengthen our financial stability," Ukrainian media reported at the time, quoting Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal.

The European Commission approved the plan in mid-April.

The Ukraine Facility budget will be 33 billion euros in loans and 17 billion euros in grants. Of the total amount, 38.27 billion euros will support the budget, 6.97 billion euros will go to the investment fund and 4.76 billion euros will be for technical and administrative support.

According to the Ukrainian Finance Ministry's website, since the start of the military operation in the country, the Ukrainian budget has received $85.35 billion in external funding, including $31.1 billion (of which grants were $14.23 billion) in 2022, $42.48 billion ($11.62 billion in grants) in 2023 and $11.78 billion ($1.02 billion in grants) this year.

Funding from the EU during this period totaled $33.98 billion (grants - $0.7 billion), including $6.48 billion this year.