Brussels - The first tranches of both new and existing macro financial aid to Ukraine will be issued after Kyiv reaches agreement with the IMF, Vice President of the European Commission Olli Rehn has said. He said this after the European Commission announced it had decided to provide Ukraine with new macro financial assistance of up to EUR 1 billion, which will complement the existing aid package of EUR 610 million.
“The first tranche of EUR 100 million of the existing macro financial assistance and EUR 500 million of the new one, which has been offered today, will be ready as soon as an agreement is achieved with the IMF,” he said.
Asked about raising energy prices for the population, Rehn said that the EC would recommend that the government of the country support the population “to compensate for inevitable social consequences of the increase in prices for electricity and energy resources.”
According to him, in the coming days the EC team will return to Kyiv for talks with the Ukrainian government. This issue will be also brought up for discussion.
Representative of the EC vice president Simon O’Connor, asked whether these funds will be used for payments to Gazprom, said that this aid would be used to ensure the balance of payments for the period of crisis in Ukraine.
