PM Groysman: Rada needs to adopt anti-corruption court law in May to refinance Ukraine's debts under IMF program

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman says the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, should this May pass a bill on setting up an anti-corruption court, as Ukraine needs to refinance its external debts under a program of cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.

"We will need to pass a law on the anti-corruption court in May, because we have to refinance the debts, and it was not us who have oiled them up," the prime minister said during a traditional Q&A session in the Verkhovna Rada April 20.

According to Groysman, fulfillment of obligations under the program of cooperation will allow Ukraine to receive $1.9 billion from the IMF and another EUR 1 billion in macro-financial assistance from the European Union in 2018.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine forecasts that the next tranche from the IMF may arrive at the beginning of the third quarter this year.

Read alsoNBU expects to sign new program with IMF in 2020In March 2015, the IMF approved a four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) loan program for Ukraine under which $17.5 billion will be disbursed. Under the program, Ukraine has already received four disbursements from the Fund to the tune of $8.7 billion. The program is expiring in March 2019.

On January 26, 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced Ukraine had fulfilled 80% of requirements under the program and the fifth disbursement might arrive in April.

The IMF says that to complete the fourth review of cooperation under the EFF to receive the fifth tranche, Ukraine needs to ensure that the pension reform is consistent with the objectives of cooperation, as well as to pass a law on privatization, bring gas tariffs in line with import parity, create an anti-corruption court, and ensure the deficit of the 2018 budget does not exceed 2.5% of GDP.