The Ukraine issue has not been incorporated in the agenda of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), although the fund will consider cooperation with Jordan, Equatorial Guinea and Serbia.
The assessment of the reforms conducted by the government of Ukraine as part of its cooperation with the IMF is not included in the agenda of the IMF Executive Board.
A posting on the IMF`s website said the schedule of the Board meetings covers the period until August 31.
Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk earlier said Ukraine and the IMF had, in general, agreed to all the issues of cooperation in the beginning of July, but there had subsequently been a technical issue due to which the discussion on Ukraine was postponed. The Ukrainian government had expected the Ukrainian issue to be considered by the IMF late in August.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the IMF approved the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for Ukraine, worth US$17.5 billion, in March 2015 for a four-year period. Last year, Ukraine received two tranches of $5 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.
In autumn 2015, while Kyiv was awaiting the EFF`s second review for the disbursement of the third tranche worth $1.7 billion, the situation in Ukraine was complicated by local elections in October 2015 and later by the serious political debates around tax reform and the budget for 2016. Cooperation with the IMF was frozen. Early in 2016, political confrontation between the different branches of power in Ukraine increased.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde called on the Ukrainian authorities to look for a political compromise and implement urgent measures to end corruption, but talks with the IMF resumed only late in April 2016 following the formation of a new Ukrainian government headed by former parliament speaker Volodymyr Groysman.
The two sides returned to the second review of the cooperation program and agreed, according to the Ukrainian authorities, on all matters of argument on the Memorandum of Cooperation, which included assessment of the reforms and tasks for the future.
The memorandum was expected to be signed early in July and the IMF`s Executive Board was to consider the Ukraine issue late in July to pave the way for the third tranche. Its sum was also under discussion, varying from $1 billion to $1.7 billion.
However, till date, the document has not been signed and the Ukraine issue has not been considered.
