Ukraine receives EUR495 mln grants from U.S., Norway, Austria - Ukrainian finance minister

KYIV. May 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine has received EUR 495 million from the United States, Norway and Austria as a single grant through the multi-donor trust fund (MDTF) set up by the World Bank as part of the Second Economic Recovery Development Policy Loan.

"A part of the grant from World Bank donors has been transferred to the Ukrainian national budget," Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said on social media on Monday.

Another grant from the United States is pending in the amount of $500 million, he said.

The grant went to the general fund of the Ukrainian national budget to accommodate primary social and humanitarian needs, healthcare costs, and support to internally displaced persons, the minister said.

The MDTF set up by World Bank Group has allowed Ukraine to receive EUR 44.5 million from Sweden as of April 11, in addition to donations from Denmark (about EUR 20.5 million), Iceland (about EUR0.46 million), Latvia (about EUR 5.0 million), Lithuania (about EUR 5.0 million) and the UK (about EUR 60.0 million) as of April 29.

Norway said at the end of March it was planning to transfer 200 million kroner (about Eur 20 million) to the MDTF for Ukraine and said it had allocated a total of 2 billion kroner for humanitarian needs and assistance to Ukrainian refugees. About half of that sum was spent as of early April.

According to the World Bank, Austria contributed EUR 10 million to the Fund, and the U.S. reported having transferred another $500 million to the MDTF on April 21.