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unions (14.7%), and loans issued by credit unions (7.3%).
6.1.2 Budget dynamics - funding & privatization
The Ukrainian authorities are preparing a bill to lift restrictions on the privatisation of state defence enterprises, according to the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov. The NSDC, the government and the parliamentary committee on national security, initiated the move, local media reported on June 26. "We are actively working with the cabinet and the Verkhovna Rada, in particular with the relevant committee, to remove at the legislative level any restrictions on the privatisation of state defence enterprises, as well as investment, including attracting foreign investment in these enterprises, which the present day severely restricts Ukrainian legislation," Turchynov told journalists.
The post-Euromaidan authorities in Kyiv have failed to secure significant results in privatisation so far. In 2017, the Ukrainian authorities obtained UAH3.244bn ($123mn) from the privatisation of state-owned assets. Kyiv restarted its privatisation drive in August, when the SPF sold blocking stakes in several power companies to System Capital Management (SCM) Group controlled by Ukraine's richest oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, which triggered criticism among anti-corruption activists and some donors. At the same time, the government in Kyiv intended earlier to meet its planned UAH17.1bn of privatisation revenues by the end of 2017. In 2016 , Kyiv obtained only UAH188.92mn ($7mn) from the privatisation of state-owned assets, or 1.1% of the UAH17.1bn ($627.5mn) plan set in the 2016 budget.
The European Parliament (EP) greenlighted a new €1bn macro-financial assistance (MFA) programme for Ukraine. The new assistance will cover Ukraine’s financing needs over a period of two and a half years. The loans will support economic stabilisation and a programme of structural reforms.
This will be the fourth MFA programme Ukraine to be signed with the EU,
which is subject to approval by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. In late 2017, the European Commission refused to allocate the last €600mn tranche to Ukraine out of its previous MFA programme.
According to Brussels, a primary instrument in the EU's overall strategy vis-a-vis Ukraine was to provide €1.8bn in MFA via the programme approved in April 2015, out of which €1.2bn has already been disbursed in two tranches.
The European Commission transferred a second €600mn tranche from the MFA to Ukraine in April . That tranche was transferred without conditions, despite previous delays amid calls from Brussels to ensure Ukraine's parliament passed bills enabling a ban on timber exports to be lifted.
Ukraine is going to enter the Eurobond markets in 2018 to refinance state debt maturing in 2019-2020, the nation's Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk said in an interview online outlet Ekomomichna Pravda published on June 4.
According to a presentation of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). after the successful return of the government to the Eurobond market in 2017, in 2018-2020 it is expected to continue offering, specifically, $2.5bn in 2018, $1.5bn in 2019 and $2.5bn in 2020.
Ukraine's foreign state debt payments will reach around $16bn in 2018-2020 , while the country's international reserves stood at around $18bn as of early April.
34 UKRAINE Country Report July 2018 www.intellinews.com