Ukrainian PM: The IMF postponed its next loan tranche to Ukraine due to delays with land reform
The next tranche of the loan from the International Monetary Fund for Ukraine will be postponed because parliament will not have time to consider all necessary reforms before the summer holidays, stated Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman in an interview with Bloomberg.
According to Groysman, the pension reform is on schedule and steps are being taken to create an anti-corruption court. However, a bill on land reform will not be submitted on time. This will delay the payment of the fifth tranche that amounts to 1.9 billion dollars out of a total loan of 17.5 billion dollars. The previous tranche of $1 billion was allocated last April.
Groysman assured that the government continues to be devoted to the implementation of the program of cooperation with the IMF. Although there will be no time to approve the land reform before the summer holidays, it may be adopted before the end of the year.
"We are working on reforms, and the fifth tranche will arrive after all," the Prime Minister said. According to him, it is not the IMF that needs reforms in Ukraine. Ukraine itself needs them and the IMF program has to be fully implemented.
Payment of the fifth tranche was first planned for June or July of 2017. The populists in the Ukrainian parliament are against the lifting of the ban on the sale of agricultural land. They argue that the authorities and entrepreneurs will deceive the farmers and seize the land.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko discussed the cooperation between Kyiv and the IMF during his visit to Washington on June 20.