Ukraine ready for arrival of IMF mission – finance minister

REUTERS Ukraine&#39;s Finance Minister Oksana Markarova says Ukraine is ready to accept the mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ukraine&#39;s key lender, which is expected to arrive in Kyiv in September to discuss the new program. Read alsoIMF mission to arrive in Kyiv in several weeks, new PM says "We have formal missions that come to discuss the program or its reviews. This is what we expect now to discuss our program," she told a Ukrainian TV channel on September 3. According to the minister, the new program will be somewhat longer and the government hopes it may be the last one. "In previous years, Ukraine always completed, so to speak, terminated the programs. But our goal is to do what many European countries managed to do, i.e. to withdraw from the program," Markarova said, adding that this refers to the full implementation of the program so that the country&#39;s economy would do without the IMF assistance. "When there is a mission, we will be engaged in this. Most likely, it will arrive in September. The International Monetary Fund said in the summer it would return when the new government was formed. We are ready for the active work," Markarova added. Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk earlier said the IMF mission would visit Kyiv on September 10-24 to discuss a new cooperation program with Ukraine. As UNIAN reported earlier, the IMF mission was working in Ukraine to assess the fulfillment of the conditions for disbursing another $1.3 billion under the current Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) and to consider the issue to ensure criminal liability for illegal enrichment introduced within the previous program, but canceled by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in February 2019. Volodymyr Zelensky officially became President of Ukraine on May 20, 2019. During his swearing-in speech, he announced the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine&#39;s parliament, and called on the Ukrainian government to resign. The presidential decree on the dissolution of parliament entered into force on May 23. The early elections were scheduled for July 21. Following an IMF mission visit to Kyiv in May 2019, the IMF said it would resume negotiations on further cooperation with Ukraine after the parliamentary elections and the formation of a new Cabinet of Ministers.

Ukraine ready for arrival of IMF mission – finance minister

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