The Financial Times: The United States can increase financial assistance to Ukraine

The US may consider increasing financial aid for Ukraine. It is reported by the British newspaper Financial Times, citing its sources.

According to the report, such information came from a newspaper source in the US Treasury on the eve of a vote in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approving an agreement on restructuring Ukraine’s external debt in the amount of $ 18 billion, which has become the object of criticism from some lenders and opposition politicians.

“There is the prospect of additional funding from the US and other sources. For Ukraine to become successful under current circumstances, it will need support from the United States, Europe, as well as from other bilateral and multilateral sources,” the publication quotes its interlocutor as saying.

In addition, the publication recalled that US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew mentioned the possibility of providing Ukraine with a third loan guarantee in a conversation with reporters during a G20 meeting this month, while warning that “it is still a little early to talk about this.”

As reported by UNIAN, on August 27, Ukraine and the committee of creditors reached an agreement on the restructuring of part of the public debt totaling $ 18 billion. Restructuring involves the complete write-off of four billion dollars, the deferral of payments on the body of the loan for four years, as well as the establishment of a single interest rate on bonds at the level of 7,75%.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk hopes that the Verkhovna Rada will adopt this Thursday a package of bills necessary for the legislative execution of a debt transaction - the restructuring of part of the public debt.

At the end of January 2015, Ukraine and the United States signed a declaration on the provision of loan guarantees of the United States government to Kiev in the amount of two billion dollars. At the same time, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said that the US government intends to propose to Congress to increase the package of loan guarantees to three billion dollars in case of reforms in Ukraine in the field of overcoming corruption, reforming the energy sector, and improving the business climate.