The European Union has provided its second tranche of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine in the amount of EUR 600 million, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tweeted.
Today the EU made the 2nd payment of €600m to Ukraine as a part of its Macro-Financial assistance to stabilize & reform its economy,” Petro Poroshenko tweeted.
As UNIAN reported, Ukraine receives the second tranche of macro-financial assistance from the EU in the amount of EUR 600 million without any additional conditions imposed.
In April 2014, the European Union, which is one of the largest creditors and donors of Ukraine, announced its willingness to provide financial assistance totaling EUR 11 billion: EUR 1.6 billion in loans, EUR 1.4 billion in grants, EUR 5 billion from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and EUR 3 billion from the European Investment Bank.
Within the credit program, Ukraine received only EUR 600 million. In 2015, the EU proposed a new package of loan assistance amounting to EUR 1.8 billion. Within the framework of the program, Ukraine has already received EUR 600 million. However, the allocation of the next disbursements was suspended until the Verkhovna Rada adopted the bills lifting of the ban on the export of roundwood, as well as supporting IDPs. In 2016 Ukraine received no loan tranches from the EU.
The EU`s condition to lift the ban on timber exports for obtaining macro-financial assistance was announced in the second half of 2016. According to the European side, the desire of the Ukrainian authorities to ban exports and thus establish control over deforestation and the sale of timber, saw no success. The EU Delegation maintained that uncontrolled export of wood continues, but the state does not receive any direct income from this. Moreover, uncontrolled cutting never stopped, which has serious environmental implications for Ukraine. In this regard, the EU proposed to abolish the ban on timber exports as it failed to fulfill its direct function, to introduce effective control over the sale of timber, and to develop a strategy for the restoration of forests.
At the same time, the EU Delegation promised to provide assistance to this end. In early February 2017, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the EU would allocate EUR 600 million to Ukraine even without the Rada adopting a law to lift a timber export ban. It was enough to simply submit a corresponding bill to Parliament.
