“We plan to receive the loan in September-October and expect a positive response of EBRD management,” Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency cited Konovets.
Western financial institutions may provide $1 bln to purchase natural gas for the heating season, Ukraine’s minister of energy and coal industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn said earlier on Thursday.
“When we visited the United States, we held a series of meetings in this regard with representatives of the US government, the International Finance Corporation [IFC] and the World Bank. The decision to provide financing to purchase natural gas for the heating season will be reached in the nearest future,” the minister said.
Ukraine expects to receive $1 bln in total, the minister said. “$300 mln from the World Bank, $300 mln from IFC, and the remaining amount from other donors,” he added.
“IFC is considering an option of extending a loan to a trader, which will include everything into its asset list, will store and sell [gas], for example to [Ukraine’s gas operator] Naftogaz.