Luxemburg – The European Investment Bank (EIB) in 2014-2016 plans to expand its credit portfolio in Ukraine by 1.5-3 billion euros, EIB President Werner Hoyer has said.
‘Now we’re discussing development projects,’ he told reporters in Luxemburg.
He said that the bank remains very ambitious with regards to its cooperation with Ukraine, adding that recently due to events in Crimea and in the eastern part of Ukraine, it has become very hard to cooperate with Kyiv.
It’s very hard, especially now, before the election, it’s difficult to find those with whom we can hold talks and sign agreements, he said.
He added that the bank has decided to focus on those projects that will be realized on the territories that are under the control of the Ukrainian government.
According to Interfax-Ukraine’s information, the bank is mulling its participation in projects for the restoration of infrastructure in the eastern part of Ukraine and in a project on financing the education system, in particular, increasing the salaries of teachers.
‘Education is investment in the future of the country,’ a source well acquainted with the new plans to the EIB said.
Officially the EIB’s Web site posted only a project on the modernization of the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod trunk gas pipeline among the projects pending approval. EIB and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development plan to provide 150 million euros each for the project.
The Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Ukraine foresaw that this year the EIB would provide $683 million, although the funds have not been provided.
