Photo: Ministry of Finance of Ukraine
Ukraine has signed an agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to provide a loan of more than USD 3 billion under the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) initiative. This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Telegram.
“The funds will be repaid from the proceeds of the frozen assets of the Russian Federation. The resource will be used for priority budget expenditures to develop the economy and strengthen Ukraine,” the Prime Minister said.
This is a loan of JPY 471.9 billion (over USD 3 billion), which will be part of a global support package for Ukraine under the ERA totalling USD 50 billion. The funds will be used to finance key state budget expenditures in 2025, including economic and social support.
The Ministry of Finance clarified that the document was signed by Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko and Hideki Matsunaga, head of the JICA Ukrainian office. Marchenko stressed that Japan remains the second largest donor to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war, having already provided more than $8.5 billion, of which $955 million is non-refundable.
“The ERA mechanism is only an interim solution. Our goal is an international compensation mechanism to fully confiscate the assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and compensate for the damage caused,” the minister added.
Thus, the funds from Japan became part of a broader G7 approach that allows Russia, albeit indirectly, to start paying for the war right now – through frozen assets.
