EU raises 500 mn euros for Ukraine

Brussels, June 11: The European Commission on Tuesday raised 500 million euros ($677 million) on the capital markets to fund the first loan tranche for

under a new programme.

The funding, under the new Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA II) programme, was raised via European Union (EU) 10-year bond in April, Xinhua quoted an official statement as saying.

The loan tranche will be disbursed to Ukraine June 17.

MFA II is supporting Ukraine with loans of up to 1 billion euros, intended to assist the country economically and financially in the current critical stage of its development.

The programme is part of the package to support Ukraine as announced by the European Commission March 5.

IANS