EU has refused to speed up disbursement of loan to Ukraine and is demanding reforms, - Bloomberg
The European Union has refused to speed up the disbursement of a loan to Ukraine to cover the additional shortfall in military funding and has called on Kyiv to implement reforms more actively.
According to Censor.NET, this is reported in a Bloomberg article.
Kyiv has asked for the disbursement of €90 billion to be accelerated
According to the publication, Ukraine has acknowledged that, due to rising war costs, it is facing an additional funding shortfall of €27 billion.
In light of this, Kyiv has appealed to Brussels to speed up the disbursement of a €90 billion loan, scheduled to be paid out by the end of 2027.
According to sources, the EU did not agree with some of Ukraine’s calculations. Brussels stated that early disbursement could create a new financial problem in 2027.
Instead, the EU proposed securing additional funding from other partners, notably Canada, Norway and Japan.
During a meeting in New York, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted that Brussels has €37 billion in budgetary support for 2026.
The EU is linking further funding to reforms
At the same time, these funds are conditional on Ukraine’s progress in key reforms. These include combating the shadow economy, increasing tax revenues and harmonising legislation with EU standards.
"We have identified the means to cover Ukraine’s budget and defense needs for 2026. We have also reconfirmed the steps needed to ensure their timely release," reads a joint statement by the European Commission and Ukraine.
According to the statement, €45 billion from the 2027 loan is to be disbursed swiftly, but not before the start of next year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine and its partners will coordinate their actions on a monthly basis to resolve this issue.
According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine could face a funding shortfall of between 30 and 35 billion dollars in 2027. In 2028, this figure could amount to 17 billion dollars, and in 2029 — 2 billion dollars.
IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack confirmed that the Fund will hold talks with Kyiv and international partners regarding the potential size of the shortfall and the consolidation of reviews of the $8.1 billion funding programme by December.
"The plan was subject to securing sufficient and credible financing assurances," she emphasised.
- Earlier, during a meeting in New York, Ursula von der Leyen and Volodymyr Zelenskyy also discussed further steps to support Ukraine.
