Ukraine will not receive macro-financial assistance from the EU in March
The Ukrainian Financial Ministry stated that Kyiv might not have time to get macro-financial assistance from the EU in the amount of 500 million euro by the end of March 2019.
"Now, the [EU] assessment mission is working and drawing its conclusions. We have very little time left till the end of this month and we should count on future periods [for funding],” Deputy Minister of Finance Vasyl Shkurakov said. He estimated that Ukraine should receive about 4 billion dollars from external creditors this year.
Earlier, the Minister of Finance of Ukraine, Oksana Markarova stated that conditions of cooperation with the EU presuppose that there should be no less than three months between macro-financial tranches. Ukraine should adopt two draft laws regarding customs reform to get a new tranche.
On December 11, the EU transferred the first 500-million-euro tranche as part of the fourth macro-financial assistance program to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian National Bank expects to receive two tranches from the IMF for 1.3 billion hryvnia or $48 million each by the end of the year. The World Bank also plans to approve the new loan guarantee program for state borrowings for Ukraine.