The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) welcomes the final decision of the European Union (EU) to grant the fourth macro-financial assistance (MFA) to Ukraine, which was signed on 4 July 2018 by President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani. This new MFA totalling €1 billion in medium- and long-term loans is designed to offset partly Ukraine’s external financing needs in 2018-2019 and offer additional incentives for the country’s reform efforts through a number of policy conditions.
MFA is an EU’s tool to help the neighbourhood countries cover their balance-of-payments needs and undertake structural economic reforms. Since the outset of Russian aggression in 2014, the EU has disbursed a total of €2.8 billion to Ukraine in MFA operations. According to the European Commission, this is the record amount ever extended by the EU to a third partner, which signals clear support by the EU of socio-economic development in Ukraine.
The European Commission has already recognized Ukraine’s progress in reforming such areas as energy, public administration, social safety nets, public finance management and the judiciary over the past few years. The disbursement of the latest MFA will be conditional on Ukraine’s implementing several more reform measures, including effective verification of asset declarations by public officials, verification of company ownership data, and introducing further improvements to public finance management. The exhaustive list of conditions along with respective timeframes will be included in a Memorandum of Understanding, yet to be agreed between the EU and Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian World Congress welcomes the EU’s decision to offer new macro-financial assistance to Ukraine as it sends another clear signal of the substantial international support for the country,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
