KIEV, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- An agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will help Ukraine receive macro-financial assistance from the European Union, the EU Ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas said on Monday.

The EU official made the announcement following a phone conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the new three-year program plan that Ukraine has applied for.

Ukrainian Finance Minister Oksana Markarova wrote on her official Facebook page that Ukraine expects to receive 500 million euros (553 million U.S. dollars) of macro-financial assistance in the coming months.

Earlier the IMF announced that an agreement was reached on a three-year loan plan for 4 billion SDR (about 5.5 billion U.S. dollars) under an expanded financing mechanism.

Ukraine has been negotiating the possibility of opening a new three-year loan program, which would replace a standby arrangement of 3.9 billion U.S. dollars that expires next year.