IMF mission arrived in Ukraine
The mission of the International Monetary Fund arrived in Ukraine and will work until May 25, reported a representative of the Ukrainian office of the IMF on May 16.
Among the issues that the IMF mission intends to discuss are pension reform, changes in tax and customs policy, progress in VAT refund and budget implementation.
The last time the IMF mission worked in Ukraine was in the first half of November 2016. On April 3, 2017. At that time Ukraine was given a tranche of $1 billion.
On April 6, IMF Spokesman Gerry Rice said that this year Ukraine can receive three more tranches of the loan from the IMF for a total of about 4.4 billion dollars. He also noted that this was conditional to the implementation of the reforms stipulated by the cooperation program.
At a press conference in Washington, the representative said the main objectives of the program for the next few months were comprehensive pension reform, progress in privatization, creation of a market for selling farm lands and a determined fight against corruption, which was an important element in this program.
According to the National Bank, until the end of the year, Ukraine expects to receive 4.5 billion US dollars from the IMF and 1.3 billion from the European Commission. Before the end of 2019, Ukraine must pay 12.8 billion dollars’ worth of foreign debt.
In March 2015, a 4-year, $17.5 billion Extended Fund Facility was approved between the IMF and Ukraine. Together with the current tranche, the IMF has provided Ukraine about 8.38 billion dollars under this program. As stated on the official IMF website, "The program aims to put the economy on the path to recovery, restore external sustainability, strengthen public finances, and support economic growth by advancing structural and governance reforms, while protecting the most vulnerable."