Ukraine to receive CAD 450 mln aid to buy gas ahead of heating season - PM Shmyhal

MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has thanked Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland for providing Ukraine with CAD 450 million in assistance.

"Ukraine will receive 450 million Canadian dollars aid for fuel purchase before the heating season," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Shmyhal as saying on social media.

The Ukrainian government in July amended the basic terms for foreign borrowing implementation by the state in 2022, drawing a loan from Canada.

"The draft resolution was developed by the Finance Ministry to be able to increase the size of a concessional loan by CAD 0.45 billion (eq. $0.3 billion) under the loan agreement between Ukraine and Canada, resulting in the loan amount of CAD 1.4 billion (eq. $1.1 billion)," the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said.

On June 17, the Ukrainian state budget received CAD 1 billion, or $773 million, from Canada as part of this concessional loan, it said.

"These are the first funds that Ukraine has received through the mechanism of the International Monetary Fund's administrative account. The loan repayment period is ten years and the interest rate is 1.69% per annum. The specified conditions are preserved for additional tranches of the loan," the ministry said.