European Commission disburses first tranche of the new €1 billion Macro-Financial Assistance for Ukraine

The European Commission, on behalf of the EU, has today disbursed the first half (€500 million) of a new €1 billion Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) operation for Ukraine. The second tranche
(another €500 million) will be disbursed tomorrow, 2 August. This additional MFA of €1 billion is part of the extraordinary effort by the EU, alongside the international community, to help Ukraine
to address its immediate financial needs following the unprovoked and unjustified aggression by Russia. It complements the support already provided by the EU, including a €1.2 billion emergency MFA
loan paid out in the first half of the year. Taken together, the two strands of the programme bring the total MFA support to Ukraine since the beginning of the war to €2.2 billion. On 18 May, the
Commission set out plans in a Communication
for the EU’s immediate response to address Ukraine’s financing gap, as well as the longer-term reconstruction framework. On 25 July, the Board of the European Investment Bank, approved €1.59 billion in
financial assistance, supported by guarantees from the EU budget, to help Ukraine repair the most essential infrastructure and resume important projects addressing the urgent needs of Ukrainian
people. To finance the MFA, the Commission borrows on capital markets on behalf of the EU, in parallel to its other programmes, most notably NextGenerationEU and SURE. The possible borrowing for
Ukraine is foreseen in the Commission’s funding plan for the second half of 2022. More information on the aid that the EU has provided to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s war of aggression is
available
online. For more detailed information, a press release is available here.