Ukraine plans to receive from international partners another $8 billion by the end of 2017, including three more disbursements from the International Monetary Fund, that is $1.9 billion in May, and in August and September, $1.3 billion each, according to an updated memorandum on cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility.
Taking into account the decision by the IMF Executive Board to allocate a fourth disbursement worth $1 billion, Ukraine in 2017 intends to receive from its key creditor a total of $5.5 billion dollars.
At the same time, according to the memorandum, other international partners, including the European Union and the United States in 2017 will allocate another $2.5 billion, bringing this year`s total funding under the EFF to $8 billion.
The IMF assesses Ukraine`s need for financing for the current year at $ 12.4 billion. Taking into account the attraction of $8 billion from the IMF and other partners, another $4.4 billion aimed to cover the need for financing will be provided by Eurobond debt restructuring, reducing by this amount the debt burden on Ukraine.
Also, the memorandum envisages attracting this year $0.9 billion of project financing and Ukraine`s entry into the borrowing market to attract another $1 billion.
In 2018, cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF provides for the allocation of another four disbursements – in February, May, August, and November, each amounting to $955 million.
As UNIAN reported, the IMF Executive Board on April 3 completed the third review of the EFF for Ukraine and approved the provision of another loan tranche totaling $1 billion. The receipt of the fourth tranche is an unprecedented event for Ukraine, since throughout the whole history of cooperation with the Fund, the country has dropped out of loan programs at earlier stages.
The International Monetary Fund urged the Ukrainian authorities to accelerate structural reforms to achieve faster and more sustainable growth, starting with the privatization and development of the agricultural land market; and noted the lack of concrete results in the fight against corruption.
In addition, according to the IMF, Ukraine cannot postpone for much longer the implementation of large-scale pension reform, including raising the effective retirement age.
