EU waffles on increasing financial support for Ukraine

The European Union is considering the possibility of providing a new macro-financial assistance program for Ukraine, the third of its kind, according to European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici.

Although Moscovici did not specify the exact amount of such financial assistance, he said that this possibility would depend on two factors: the capability of Ukraine’s leadership to conduct reforms once the country’s political instability was resolved and the EU’s capacity to find such funds.

Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said that the European Union understood how considerable Ukraine’s financial needs were. He added that the main sources of support for Ukraine should be international financial organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, although, if needed, European resources might be mobilized as well.

The EU has already committed itself to granting Ukraine a €1.61 billion loan. The second part of this financial assistance program was transferred to Ukraine in early December.

The basic macro-financial assistance program was agreed by the EU in March 2014. This program aims at providing Ukraine financial support worth a total of €11bn, funds that are to be allocated within next few years as loans and grants by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Union budget and other sources.

Meanwhile, Brussels has been in no hurry to convene an international meeting of donor states in support of Ukraine, calling on Kyiv to reduce its dependence on loans and grants. A donor conference was recently postponed for the fourth time, to January.

Source: finance.ua

Tags: EU