Ukraine is tightening the credit noose around its neck even tighter
The Verkhovna Rada allowed the Cabinet of Ministers to take out a 300 million euro loan for insulation of schools, kindergartens and cultural institutions.
The corresponding law on the ratification of the financial agreement with the European Investment Bank was adopted today by the country's parliament, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to the head of the parliamentary committee on European integration, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, the agreement provides for a loan for up to 20 years.
“The ratification of the agreement and its gaining force will create the legal basis for the possibility of attracting credit resources totaling up to 300 million euros. And this money should be used to improve the modernization process of about a thousand public buildings in Ukraine, in particular, preschool and secondary educational institutions, healthcare institutions, as well as social, administrative and cultural facilities that are state and municipal property,” the deputy said .
“The repayment of borrowed funds is planned to be carried out entirely at the expense of the final beneficiaries - local governments. And the terms of the loan, the interest rate - fixed or floating, the maximum grace period - five years, the repayment period, including the grace period, is 20 years,” said Klympush-Tsintsadze.
Rada deputy Oleksandr Koltunovich criticized the parliament's decision, emphasizing that over the past two years the new parliament has already accumulated too many loans.
“When they tell you - macro-financial assistance, something else, in fact these are all additional loans, and it all results in specific numbers. $81,9 billion when we arrived. Today the national debt is already 91,5 billion dollars. These numbers are not taken from somewhere, they come precisely from these positions. Yes, of course, there are government bonds and so on. But these are additional debts. In 20 years, someone will give them away. I am not against the concept of energy efficiency, modernization, I am even ready to support these projects so that they are introduced at the local level, but when such draft laws are voted on, please immediately give a financial and economic justification, who at the local level will pay for what funds in twenty years of these loans,” said Koltunovich.
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