Ukraine expects to receive $2 billion from the IMF immediately after the new budget is adopted
Ukraine expects to receive 2 billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund immediately after the adoption of the bill on the state budget for 2019, as the representative of the President, Iryna Lutsenko told journalists on the sidelines of the Parliament session on Thursday.
"We are expecting about two billion dollars. And I think, once the budget is voted and signed, the IMF said this many times, there will be no delays with financing and providing the next tranche to Ukraine," she said. Lutsenko added that voting for the budget will be "more likely in the afternoon."
In October, Ukraine and the IMF reached an agreement on the new 14-month stand-by economic program of the IMF that will replace the Extending Fund Facility program approved in March 2015 and expiring in March 2019. It demands fewer requirements for receiving the financing. One of the requirements is adopting the budget with limited deficit.
The Cabinet of Ministers introduced the budget for 2019 on September 15 this year. On November 18, Deputies adopted it in the first reading.