REUTERS
The Ukrainian Finance Ministry intends to make an issue of eurobonds worth a total of $1 billion in April-May 2015 backed by state guarantees from the U.S. government, according to the ministry’s Web site, which quotes Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalia Jaresko.
According to Jaresko, with such loan guarantees, market participants will assess the risk of Ukrainian eurobonds at the U.S. sovereign risk level.
"Investors will take into account the fact that these bonds are backed by the U.S. government," Jaresko said.
She said that the provision of U.S. state guarantees for eurobond issues by Ukrainian government is only one of a range of measures of financial support provided to the country by other countries and international organizations. In particular, the total amount of financial aid, excluding the new loan program of IMF worth $17.5 billion, amounts to $7.2 billion, she said.
It is also reported that the financial assistance will be provided in the framework of international agreements on financial support for Ukraine from bilateral and multilateral partners that was "unlocked" after the adoption on March 11 of a new four-year program between Ukraine and the IMF.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on March 11, the IMF approved a four-year program for Ukraine worth $17.5 billion. The first tranche of $5 billion was received on March 13.
Earlier, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs Victoria Nuland said in her speech at a meeting of US House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 5 that the U.S. government was ready to provide Ukraine with an additional amount of financial assistance in the form of government guarantees for $1 billion by the end of 2015, subject to the progress in implementing the reform program for the country. According to Nuland, the funds can be provided in addition to already existing financial arrangements between Ukraine and the United States reached in January this year.
Ukraine and the United States signed a declaration on providing Kyiv with the loan guarantees from the U.S. government worth $2 billion in late January. At that time, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew reaffirmed that the U.S. government was intending to propose to Congress to increase the loan guarantees up to $3 billion if Ukraine succeeded in implementing reforms related to combatting corruption, the energy sector, and improving the country’s business climate.