Ukraine receives 88.5-mln-euro grant from WB's Trust Fund - Finance Ministry

KYIV. April 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine received a 88.5-million-euro grant from the World Bank's Donor Trust Fund under the Second Economic Recovery Development Policy Program for Ukraine on Friday.

"The grant financing will be forwarded to the Ukrainian state budget's general fund to finance priority social, humanitarian, and healthcare expenditures and support internally displaced people," the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and World Bank Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe (Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine) Arup Banerji signed the relevant agreement in Washington on April 21.

The Trust Fund has been set up by the World Bank Group. Denmark has contributed to it about 20.5 million euros, Iceland about 0.46 million euros, Latvia about 5 million euros, Lithuania about 5 million euros, and the United Kingdom about 60 million euros.

According to the Ukrainian Finance Ministry, Ukraine will also receive 495 million euros in a grant from Norway, Austria, and the United States via the MDTF.

Relevant amendments to the MDTF agreement have been signed by Marchenko and Banerji, it said.

The grant will be forwarded to the Ukrainian state budget's general fund to finance priority social, humanitarian, and healthcare expenditures and support internally displaced people, it said.

Norway said in late March it would contribute 200 million Norwegian kroner to the MDTF for Ukraine, mentioning also that it had allocated in all 2 billion kroner for humanitarian relief and support for refugees. About half of that sum was spent by early April.

Austria's contribution to the MDTF amounted to 10 million euros, according to the WB. The U.S. contributed to the MDTF $500 million on April 21.