Senior IMF official talks about ”advanced stage” of talks with Ukraine

Thursday, June 9, 2016 - 14:20 (EEST) Section: Latest news

First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF David Lipton has said in an interview with the Novoye Vremia weekly that the revision of the cooperation program with Ukraine is now at an advanced stage.
”The Ukrainian government has taken important steps for the completion of the revision of the program. The discussion on the revision (third tranche conditions) is at an advanced stage. There are still a number of issues that we continue to discuss. We have already reached an agreement at the level of personnel for review and further implementation of the program. We hope that the remaining issues will be resolved quickly,” Lipton said.
At the same time, responding to a clarifying question on how fast it will happen, he said: ”We have no time constraints.”
Lipton also said that the Fund did not impose additional requirements for Ukraine.
All the requirements are in the spirit of the original program, said Lipton, adding that now there is just another review of its realization.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the four-year EFF program worth about $17.5 billion originally foresaw quarterly reviews of the program, the disbursement of four tranches to Kyiv in 2015, another four in 2016. However, at present, the country has received only the first tranche worth $5 billion on March 13, 2015, and the second one worth $1.7 billion arrived on August 4, 2015.
The second review is underway as Ukraine and the IMF are in talks on a wide range of issues, which includes various aspects of monetary, banking and anti-corruption policies, the pension reform and the privatization process. Based on results of the review, a memorandum should be signed between the Ukrainian government and the IMF`s Executive Board.
According to Ukraine`s Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk, Ukraine may receive the third tranche of the loan in the amount of $1.7 billion from the country`s key creditor, the International Monetary Fund, under the Extended Fund Facility, approved in March last year, immediately after the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Fund, that is in July.