KIEV, April 27 - Ukraine will pay off by the middle of May a $300 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development it borrowed last year for natural gas imports, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk said Wednesday.

“We will close the credit line with the EBRD by May 15,” Nasalyk said in a televised interview. “A new line will be opened.”

The EBRD opened its $300 million credit line in October 2015 with the money to be spent on imports of about 1 billion cubic meters of European natural gas.