Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman emphasizes the importance of receiving new macro-financial assistance (MFA) from the European Union because he believes that today it is premature to talk about the independent overcoming of the country’s challenges, including servicing of external debts.
“All the conditions will be determined by the European Commission. There is a set of decisions that are necessary to get this support,” Groysman said during a joint briefing with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini in Kyiv on March 12, commenting on a new program of macro-financial assistance.
He added that there are a number of conditions that Ukraine must meet in order to receive this financial resource. “Now we are working together with the European Commission on this,” the premier said.
Groysman also noted that these funds would be sent to the state budget of Ukraine. “It is too early to say that we can overcome all the challenges ourselves, in particular, servicing external debts. So we need such support,” the prime minister added.
At the same time, he said that it is necessary to work on the growth of the Ukrainian economy so that it can become more self-sufficient.
As reported, The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a new macro-financial assistance (MFA) program for Ukraine worth up to 1 billion euro to support economic stabilization and structural reforms.
According to the website of the European Commission, this will be the fourth macro-financial assistance program for Ukraine, which is subject to approval by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
“Today’s proposal follows a request from the Ukrainian authorities and direct discussions between Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko. The new program seeks to build on the progress made in supporting economic stabilization and structural reforms under the three previous MFA operations,” the European Commission said in a report posted on March 9.
The Commission said that the disbursements under this program would depend on the implementation of reforms in Ukraine.
“All disbursements under the proposed program, including the first, would be conditional on the implementation of reform measures designed to address vulnerabilities identified in the Ukrainian economy. Established in a Memorandum of Understanding, they would take into account measures that remain outstanding from the previous MFA program and include steps to intensify the fight against corruption,” the European Commission said.
