Japan confirms $1.5 billion aid offer to Ukraine

Ukraine is going bankrupt, the $15 billion is not coming back.

I wonder how many nuclear plants Abe is hoping to sell & have Japanese companies build in Ukraine? Or just about any other business too for that matter, like ensuring access to resources Japan might need. I can't think of any foreign aid -- loans or grants, doesn't matter -- that Japan has given that was done without expectations of getting future business in return, Myanmar just being one recent example. And sure, other countries' companies play this game too, it's the capitalist way in a globalized world, but Japan seems a lot more immersed in it than most.

The IMF enter Kiev ....

Cut public investment plan by 50% this year.

Increase in the two main sales-tax rates.

Cigarette, fuel and alcohol tax increases

Reduced holiday payments for civil servants and cutting all bonuses.

Workers earning less than 3,000 Euros a month will get payments reduced to 250 Euros.

Easter and Christmas is cancelled.

All State employees at state- run companies will have wages cut.

No hole bared sell off public asset sale off to blood sucking bankers..

Breaking news! Ukraine interim government has decided to join the Crimea! Japan confirms $1.5 billion is safe.

It's better than giving more aid to SK

It's the same. The gang from Trade Square of Kiev who seized the power in ukranian Parlament will be displaced by rivals from other armed groups, sooner or later.They begin to clash already. And members of new gang will also ask money of G7. When people of devastated regions of Japan still need a financial aid, fueling a ukranian fire by money is much worse, than stupidity.

Loan, or no loan, if this money is available, it should be spent in Tohoku! Isn't the obvious priority to get that plant and the nuclear materials under control and then deal with all the displaced people?

And lots of Japanese companies will get contracts in that place, basically abe is buying japans way into the the country, it happens often>

Thank you for bringing some sense into this conversation. This aid money is part of the yearly budget (of every major nation -- it is done to secure investment, and increase international influence), and it is not affecting the rebuilding of Fukushima.

It's better than giving more aid to SK, after all. And I don't think Abe has abdicated his responsibility to Japan, I think we've got a lot of people who want to complain coming up with excuses.

So the Abe government has abdicated its responsibilities to the Fukushima/Tohoku region then

@Foxie

Hope not. Surely they won't be buying from NK....

Of the sum, 110 billion yen will be (low-interest) yen loans

For the whiners, can you spend a bit time in reading the article in full. This is not given money: More than USD 1BN as loan...

@lucabrasi: You see, that makes the whole situation even worse since she needs to buy them from ??? North Korea???. We could just directly donate the money to North Korea then instead of making such detours.

And lots of Japanese companies will get contracts in that place, basically abe is buying japans way into the the country, it happens often

There are strings attached to the offer, 'on condition that the Ukraine government will reach an agreement with the IMF (International Monetary Fund)'.

One of the major draw backs of the IMF is due to a drastic pruning of its loan operations, it is not receiving enough revenue to cover its operating costs, it is not a deal breaker but the time it will take in committees stages, Ukraine debt could be better managed selling a number of its assets on E-Bay, so I would not worry to much about Abe san actually parting with the cash unless it is on a short length of elastic.

Greece will confirm that.

Well then Japan must be super rich. The Consumption tax rise next month is cancelled then.

@Foxie

Ukraine has zero nuclear weapons.

Tsk, tsk. Bad move Mr Abe, very bad move.

Our tax money is well spent to support Timoschenko's plan to kill all remaining 8 million Russians with nuclear weapons. Have they all lost their minds? The only one thinking straight in the whole story here is Putin.

Japan offers 1.5 billion USD to them when they can not even give their very own a tax break or it's citizens the right to say where that tax money is spent and to why give it freely to some one who did nothing to earn it.

Of the sum, 110 billion yen will be (low-interest) yen loans.”

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Where other money goes? How much other countries give out money? Is Japan playing sucker???

Ukraine has a lot of debts, so seems like that ukrainians will pay back loans in far-far future, if ever pay back.

1,5 bill US$. A generous present by the Abe admin although it'll be just enough to keep the Ukraine floating for another fortnight. They need at least 50 bill (for this year alone) but there is nobody in sight willing to put that much money into a bottomless pit.

Huge budget deficit, Fukushima unresolved, need better ties with Russia and he does this? seems a bit stupid to me.

This just proves that Abe is no nationalist, but rather servile to the US interests.

Huge budget deficit, Fukushima unresolved, need better ties with Russia and he does this? seems a bit stupid to me.

Master said to give, the servant had no choice.

Wonder what the still displaced people of Fukushima will be saying to this. Very un-necessary and untimely gift.

Sinzo Abe has just flushed money into a toilet.

There are many forms of aid from humanitarian emergency assistance, to food aid, economic aid, military assistance etc. Development aid has long been recognized as crucial to help the poor developing nations out of poverty and in the case of Ukraine they are basically bankrupt. Unfortunately a lot of foreign aid is often regarded as being too much, or wasted on corrupt recipient governments despite any good intentions from donor countries. In reality the donor nation have not been held to account like what happened in Iraq. However the primary and real reason why a country gives foreign or financial aid is to support their allies who share the same values and interest and to extract from the less friendly regimes concessions that bring their policies more in line toward their own objectives. In this case Japan being a member of the G8 has an obligation to provide financial aid.

Ridiculously misplaced aid, given the continuing plight of the Fukushima people.

From one sycophantic nation of the west to another who wishes to be.

With the slump that Japan is in, Abe wants to give away more money!! What a smart move by Abe!! Raise taxes in Japan and use the money that is collected to give away to other countries!!

WHAT ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT ARE IN JAPAN THAT ARE SUFFERING ON A DAILY BASIS!!!!

Seems like the Japanese government doesn't give a darn. So sad.

It's a loan. They will get something back, but not if they gave the money to the Fukishima/ March 11 people. All Japan's government thinks about is profits.

So where will this money come from, who will skim off the top, how much will be skimmed, and wave bye bye to the bulk of it as very little of these aid packages/loans ever get paid back.

Might as well give us all a couple of million $ each in aid and non repayable loans while you are at it mr abe as we could all do with some help.

Ok, so Abe just upped the payment from $10 billion to $15 billion, nice going. More than what the EU or the US had paid.

Un-friggin-believable!

I wonder how the displaced Fukushima residents in make-shift housing will receive this news, even if the majority of the aid money is low-interest loans. Does Japan really (like really?) care about Ukraine that much?

Good to here, that's a very generous financial aid package and definitely much needed.