Ukraine received 600 million euros from EU, president says
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The European Union on Monday disbursed 600 million euros ($698 million) to Ukraine, the second tranche of an aid programme to help its eastern European neighbour through the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ukraine received the money a week after securing a provisional agreement from the International Monetary Fund for new assistance, conditional on Kyiv’s performance on reforms and tackling corruption.
One of Europe’s poorest countries, Ukraine went into recession last year as many businesses were forced to close or limit their operations during the pandemic.
The country lags behind Europe in vaccinating its 41 million people and, after a lull in the summer, deaths related to coronavirus hit records last week.
“We are supporting Ukraine with an EU Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) programme of €1.2 billion. Its second tranche of €600 million disbursed today is a clear sign of EU support for Ukraine’s reform agenda,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, executive vice president of the European Commission.
“Ukraine has made significant efforts towards implementing the MFA conditions and also made satisfactory progress with the International Monetary Fund.”
The Ukrainian government said the money would used to finance its budget needs, without providing details.
“We highly appreciate the EU’s support which contributes to Ukraine’s financial and economic stability in times of COVID-19,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
