Ukraine has signed an International Monetary Fund memorandum, paving the way for the disbursement of the next tranche of loans under its $17.5 billion bailout program, a source in the central bank said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
”The Ukrainian side has signed the updated memorandum on cooperation,” the source told Reuters.
Disbursements have been delayed repeatedly over the past two years due to stop-start progress on reforms. The latest tranche of $1 billion was contingent on Ukraine passing an IMF-backed 2017 budget and implementing banking system reforms.
Earlier, in September 2016, after more than a year`s break, Ukraine has resumed cooperation with the IMF under the four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) worth $17.5 billion. Under this program, Ukraine has already received three loan tranches, totaling $7.62 billion. Ukraine expected to receive the fourth $1 billion tranche by the end of 2016, having fulfilled the key requirements, namely the adoption of the budget for 2017 and nationalization of the country`s largest bank, PrivatBank.
