Moscow, January 24 (Interfax) - Russia plans to provide $5 billion of the $15 billion it intends to lend to Ukraine through its special drawing rights (SDR) at the IMF and the other $10 billion from the National Welfare Fund (NWF), Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.
“We can use SDR to provide credit resources to our neighbour on loan terms with payment of interest so that they can settle up with the IMF. This is about $5 billion. Therefore, of the $15 billion part, $5 billion, will be provided in the form of SDR [and] $10 billion will be invested from NWF resources,” Siluanov said on radio station Ekho Moskvy.
He said the SDR resources will be extended on the same terms as the NWF money, at an annual interest rate of 5%.
President Vladimir Putin said in December that Russia had decided to buy Ukrainian eurobonds totaling $15 billion with money from the NWF. Siluanov later said that not all of the bonds might be bought with NWF money and that there were plans to find other sources as well. Later he said that Russia has the equivalent of $9 billion in SDR and part of this amount might be extended to Ukraine as part of the $15 billion loan package.
Russia already bought $3 billion worth of Ukrainian eurobonds with NWF in December, so another $7 billion from the NWF will be spent on this.
Siluanov recalled that all of the eurobonds that Russia will buy from Ukraine mature by the end of 2015.
Speaking about Ukraine’s ability to redeem the bonds on time, the minister said the country could do this either with its own revenues or by refinancing, both on the foreign and domestic markets.
Although one-two years is “a short period, nonetheless, this is what we agreed on and we believe that at the end of 2015 Ukraine must refinance, get this money from the foreign or domestic market and repay us,” Siluanov said.
