KIEV: The World Bank has agreed to provide $500 million of loan guarantees to Ukraine to cover imports of natural gas, Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk said late Tuesday.
The guarantees will be extended to national energy company Naftogaz Ukrayiny which will use them to borrow money from commercial banks that will be spent on gas imports. “I welcome today’s decision of the board of the World Bank to provide guarantees to Naftogaz for borrowing $500 million for the purchase of gas,” Danyliuk wrote on his Facebook page. “This will get us safely through the cold season.”
The Finance Ministry and Naftogaz spent several months negotiating the guarantees which are particularly important Ukraine which has been having a gas dispute with Russia — once its only supplier of gas — and is currently importing all its gas needs from Europe.