EC mulls joint borrowing to support Ukraine - report

The European Commission is considering a new debt issuance to provide financial support for Ukraine, it was reported on Tuesday.

Citing an unnamed European Union official, Reuters said the joint borrowing would be used to cover Ukraine’s liquidity gap of €15bn over the next three months, by allowing the country to access cheap loans from the EU.

Ukraine has said it needs around €5bn a month to keep its economy afloat, from paying wages to supporting displaced citizens. The US has committed around €5bn, leaving the bloc to raise €10bn.

Reuters said the proposed scheme, if agreed by the EU's 27 members, was likely to be based on the bloc's SURE scheme, which was used to financed unemployment benefits during the pandemic.

“It is one of the models under consideration but nothing has been decided yet,” a senior EU official told the news agency.

The Commission will publish its proposal later this week, Reuters said, with G7 finance ministers due to discuss it at their next meeting in Bonn, Germany on 18 – 20 May