BRUSSELS, Belgium – The EU will provide an emergency macro-financial assistance operation of €1.2 billion in the form of loans to foster stability in Ukraine. It intends to provide swift support in a situation of acute crisis and to strengthen Ukraine’s resilience.
The Council finalised the adoption today, only 21 days after the Commission presented its proposal.
The EU fast-tracked this economic assistance to Ukraine, as the current geopolitical tensions are having a detrimental effect on Ukraine’s economic and financial stability. Persistent security threats have already triggered a substantial outflow of capital. Ukraine is losing access to international capital markets due to the heightened geopolitical uncertainty and its impact on the economic situation.
“The EU has acted swiftly and decisively to help Ukraine. Within 21 days, we completed the necessary work, which means that €1.2 billion macro-financial assistance can now reach Ukraine.”
This emergency macro-financial assistance will have a duration of 12 months and it will consist of two disbursements:
- The release of the first tranche, subject to the political precondition and a satisfactory implementation of the IMF programme, would occur swiftly after the approval of this proposal, upon entry into force of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on specific structural policy measures, to be agreed between the European Commission on behalf of the EU and Ukraine.
- The disbursement of the second tranche would be linked to the continuous satisfactory implementation of both an IMF programme and the policy measures agreed in the MoU. The MoU underpinning this emergency macro-financial assistance operation is likely to focus on a limited number of feasible, short-term policy actions in the most urgent priority areas, such as strengthening economic resilience and stability, governance and rule of law, and energy.
