Ukraine to receive $50B from G7 by year-end - Belgian finance chief

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance of Belgium Vincent Van Peteghem said this in Luxembourg on Friday following the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

An internal discussion was held on how to implement the agreement reached by the G7 leaders to provide additional support to Ukraine in the amount of $50 billion. This money may arrive in Ukraine by the end of this year, and this loan will be repaid using future profits generated from blocked Russian assets. Now the European Union will start working on the issue at the technical level, said the Belgian government official.

According to him, today's meeting of European ministers, like a month ago, began with the discussion of financial impacts caused by Russian aggression against Ukraine. The Minister of Finance of Ukraine Serhii Marchenko took part in the conference call.

The EU ministers assured Ukraine’s Serhii Marchenko of their steadfast commitment and continued support, said the Belgian minister.

Answering journalists' questions, Vincent Van Peteghem emphasized that the two elements of joint work are very important for Belgium, where a large part of blocked Russian assets are located: compliance with international law and risk sharing.

The immobilized assets as such will not be used, the official said, noting that any change in ownership could lead to consequences from a legal perspective. Also, he admitted, the distribution of risks is critical in this set of financial instruments so this was a key element in the discussion.

He noted that the ministers instructed their deputies and technical teams to work out the modalities of the loan under the G7 initiative, and to submit relevant proposals before the next ministerial meeting in July of this year.

As Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said on the sidelines of the Council in Luxembourg, EU countries intend to provide up to 60 percent of the $50 billion loan that the Group of Seven previously promised to allocate to Ukraine at the expense of proceeds from frozen Russian assets, Reuters reports.

Discussions will start on the share of the USA, Canada, Japan, and the UK, Giorgetti said.

At the same time, Reuters notes that his statement actually contradicts that by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who announced at the end of the G7 summit in Italy this month that EU countries will not yet participate directly in providing a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.

The G7 plan for Ukraine envisages providing Kyiv with a multi-year loan using future proceeds from about $300 billion worth of frozen Russian assets, most of which have been immobilized in the EU.

Russian Central Bank reserves and other assets were frozen as part of G7 sanctions imposed following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

About EUR 190 billion of these assets are held in the Belgian central securities depository, Euroclear, making the EU a key actor in any plan to utilize these assets. The United States holds about $5 billion.

As reported, the Group of Seven decided to provide Ukraine with a loan of $50 billion by the end of 2024. This is an American loan, but it can be supplemented with European money or national contributions. This loan to Ukraine is planned to be repaid at the expense of revenues from frozen Russian assets, most of which are located in EU countries.