The Minister of Finance of Ukraine Oleksandr Danyliuk has announced that the European Commission has agreed upon a new Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) program for Ukraine, UNIAN reports.
“I welcome the decision to approve a new financial assistance program for Ukraine, which is an important measure for the support of reforms in Ukraine and the financial stability of the nation,” the minister posted on his Facebook page.
Since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine in early 2014, the European Commission has allocated a total of €3.4 billion in macro-financial support via three consecutive programs of low-interest loans. This is the highest amount ever provided by the European Union to a non-member state. Out of that sum, €1.61 billion were provided in 2014 and 2015 under the first two MFA operations (MFA I and II).
In April 2015, the European Union decided to provide a third MFA program of up to €1.8 billion to Ukraine (MFA III). The first tranche under the program (€600 million) was disbursed to Ukraine on 22 July 2015. The second tranche of the same amount was transferred on 4 April 2017.
On 1 December 2017, the European Commission announced it wasn’t “in a position to disburce the last trance of the present MFA program,” adding that it would “consider further Macro-Financial Assistance to Ukraine, provided reform momentum is boosted.”
