REUTERS
Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavicius and World Bank country director for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova Qimiao Fan signed an agreement on August 27 on the allocation of the second $500 million loan aimed at boosting Ukraine reforms, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
The loan is granted for a period of 16 years, with a seven-year grace period when Ukraine will only be paying 1.25% interest, according to Abromavicius.
The Minister said that these funds will accelerate the implementation of Ukraine’s reforms, in particular in the energy sector, in improving business environment and in the social sphere.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in July, the Verkhovna Rada passed a package of bills allowing Ukraine to fulfill a number of conditions for obtaining loans from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Governments of Japan and Germany.
In 2015, Ukraine has already received nearly $8 billion from foreign creditors, including $6.7 billion of the first and second IMF tranches under the EFF program, and $1 billion of financial guarantees from the U.S. Government. In addition, Kyiv expects $ 300 mln from the Government of Japan and $200 million from the German government. Another $1 billion of fimamcial guarantees will be allocated by the U.S. Government this fall.