REUTERS
The macro-financial assistance program is tied to the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Ukraine, which is under consideration now, Dombrovskis says.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has announced Ukraine may receive EUR 500 million in macro-financial assistance from the European Union in the first quarter of 2020 (Q1).
"We expect that the tranche I spoke about may be obtained in the first quarter of this year. That is, in the near future, in the coming weeks or months," Honcharuk said at a joint press conference with Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis on January 28.
In turn, Dombrovskis echoed Honcharuk's words, adding that the macro-financial assistance program is connected with the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Ukraine, which is under consideration now.
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"The macro-financial assistance program is in the process [of consideration] like the implementation of the IMF program. If everything goes well, it may be [provided] in the first quarter of the year," he said, adding that while this program is not completed, it is too early to talk about a new macro-financial assistance project.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in late 2019, Ukrainian Finance Minister Oksana Markarova said an agreement with the IMF would let Ukraine get EUR 500 million in macro-financial assistance from the European Union on favorable terms in the coming months.
Ukraine's authorities and the IMF staff had reached an agreement on policies to underpin a new three-year US$5.5 billion Extended Fund Facility, while the Fund's Executive Board is yet to approve the program.