Prime Minister Mykola Azarov spoke on the effects of Russian financial aid in an interview with the First National TV channel on Dec. 27.
“This credit gave us, in essence, one thing – stability for the foreign exchange reserves. They (FX reserves) are considerable in Ukraine. Our credit ranking has increased already according to all ranking agencies,” Azarov said.
The prime minister emphasized that the financial aid enables “to credit our economy and lower interest rates. This (Russian loan) is help that we expected from the IMF and of a similar amount. We did not receive it because the IMF agreed to give a loan with conditions attached, which we refused to fulfill. We received the funds from Russia, making it possible to look forward to 2014 with optimism.
On Dec. 17, President Viktor Yanukovych travelled to Moscow and signed a number of agreements. According to one of them, Russia agreed to provide a $15 billion loan to Ukraine with the first tranche coming in December.
The Ukrainian government has since issued Eurobonds worth $3 billion with a coupon rate of 5% and an expiration date in 2015. On Dec. 24, Dmitriy Medvedev, the Prime Minister of Russia, announced that on Monday, Dec.23, Russia had purchased these securities.
Original in Ukrainian on the Ukrainska Pravda website:http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2013/12/27/7008654/
