Finance Ministry expects first USL Loan disbursement from EU in June

The first disbursement of European Union funding under the Ukraine Support Loan (USL), which totals EUR 90 billion, is expected to arrive this June following Ukraine’s fulfillment of its commitments. These obligations will be finalized in a Loan Agreement that requires ratification by the Verkhovna Rada, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko announced.

"The delay was [related] to the preparation of the loan agreement and the coordination of the memorandum," he told reporters on the sidelines of a roundtable discussion in Kyiv on Friday.

The event was organized by Ukraine’s leading business communities to discuss a draft bill on taxing parcels valued under EUR 150.

The minister said that the loan agreement to be ratified by the Rada will include a clause requiring the passage of this tax law, though it could be enacted after the first tranche is received.

According to Marchenko, negotiators managed to agree that the USL loan agreement will not include a clause introducing VAT for sole proprietors. While this introduction is a condition of Ukraine’s cooperation program with the International Monetary Fund, it currently lacks support in the Rada.

The Finance Minister acknowledged that the parcel taxation issue currently poses a risk to ratification, but he expressed hope that the law will be passed.

Marchenko also stated that the necessary changes required for the first tranche have already been implemented, such as extending the military tax into the period following the end of martial law.

As reported, the first tranche will amount to approximately EUR 9 billion out of the EUR 45 billion scheduled for allocation this year.